A counselor is a qualified individual who uses counseling methods to help people manage and overcome

mental and emotional issues. Their duties include listening to patients, developing treatment plans, and
creating coping strategies. Rehabilitation counseling is focused on helping people who have disabilities
achieve their personal, career, and independent living goals through a counseling process. Therefore,
the essence of this essay is to Discuss the role of counsellors in rehabilitation counselling.

The primary role of a counselor in rehabilitation counselling is to assist clients in reaching their optimal
level of psychosocial functioning through resolving negative patterns, prevention, rehabilitation, and
improving quality of life. Rehabilitation counselors work with clients with disabilities and/or chronic
illnesses, including those with psychiatric conditions, in settings such as state vocational rehabilitation
agencies, hospitals, and so on. Addiction counseling, a recently acknowledged master’s-level counseling
specialty, involves working in the substance abuse/addictions field and provides addiction prevention,
treatment, recovery support, and education. The shared practice and knowledge domains of counselors
and other helping professions coupled with the diversity within the counseling profession has, on the
one hand, produced a rich, comprehensive, and inclusive field.(Berven, 1979).

Another role of a counselor in rehabilitation counselling is a ssessing patients through detailed

conversations, interviews, and observations to determine the appropriate testing or examination.
Diagnosing the patient’s mental and emotional disorders.Creating effective treatment plans that include
counseling, medication, or other services.Discussing the treatment plan with clients on a regular basis to
identify faults or room for improvement.Educating clients about appropriate coping mechanisms to help
them through tough situations.Recording the patient’s progress and changing their treatment plan when
needed. (Berven, 1979).

Counsellor’s in rehabilitation counselling try to read their clients to enable them to create a setting in
which they will feel safe to explore their most inner thoughts. A counsellor will concentrate their
attention solely on the client, so that, in effect, what is personally concerning to them becomes
personally concerning to the counsellor. It is important that a counsellor doesn’t bombard the client
with a lot of questions. Offering a response that is reflective, even meditative at times, can help deeper
concerns rise to the surface, and can gradually inform the client that this is not a setting in which a
counsellor is going to be making judgements about right and wrong. (Berven, 1979).

Clients seeking counselling for the first time can feel blissful relief at receiving such full and much-
needed attention; others may feel very anxious about revealing their most inner thoughts and
experiences for fear of being judged. It is important to remember that as a counsellor in rehabilitation
counselling it is their role not just to listen to the actual words spoken by the client, but to also read the
hidden meanings, verbal, intuitive or physical, that the client is communicating, and to feed them back
in a form this is not judgemental, but emphatic and understanding of the real, original cause of the
presenting problem. It is important that a counsellor builds a relationship with their client. (Gottlieb, &
Lutsky, 1991).

No two people understand the same language in the same way; their understanding will always be
linked to their personal experience of the world. The role of the counsellor in rehabilitation counselling,
therefore, is to help the client to develop their own understanding of their situation.They will enable the
client to explore aspects of their life and feelings, by talking openly and freely. Talking like this is rarely
possible with family or friends, who are likely to be emotionally involved and have opinions and biases
that may affect the discussion. Talking to a counsellor gives clients the opportunity to express difficult
feelings such as anger, resentment, guilt and fear in a confidential environment.(Gottlieb, & Lutsky,
1991).

The counsellor in rehabilitation counselling may encourage the client to examine parts of their lives that
they may have found difficult or impossible to face before. There may be some exploration of early
childhood experiences to throw some light on why an individual reacts or responds in certain ways in
given situations. This is often followed by considering ways in which the client may change such
behaviours.(Gottlieb, & Lutsky, 1991).

Counselors in rehabilitation counselling have good counselling that reduce the client’s confusion,
allowing them to make effective decisions leading to positive changes in their attitude and/or behaviour.
The ultimate aim of counselling is to enable the client to make their own choices, reach their own
decisions and act upon them. (Gottlieb, & Lutsky, 1991).

Counsellors in rehabilitation counselling are responsible for working in ways that promote the client’s
control over his/her own life and respect the client’s ability to make decisions and change his/her mind
in the light of his/her own beliefs and values.Counsellors do not normally act on behalf of their clients
unless at the express request of the client or in certain exceptional circumstances. (Kuehn, 1997).

The core of the counseling process is the relationship established between the counselor and the
client.The counselor in rehabilitation counselling takes the initiative to establish a climate conducive to
develop mutual respect, trust, free and open communication and understanding in general of what the
counseling process involves.Both the counselor’s attitude and verbal communications is significant to
the development of a satisfactory relationship. Verbal communication includes attentive listening,
understanding and feeling with the client. (Kuehn, 1997).

The quality of counselor client relationship determines the counseling outcomes. Factors that are
important in the establishment of counselor client relationship are positive regard and respect, accurate
empathy, and genuineness. In addition, to ensure these conditions the counselor in rehabilitation
counselling needs to have openness: an ability to understand and feel with the client as well as value the
client.Counselor client relationship serves to increase the opportunities for clients to attain their goals.
Moreover, a potential model of a good interpersonal relationship. In fact, one that clients can use to
improve the quality of their relationships outside the therapeutic setting.The counselor helps the client
make effective interpersonal relationships and free him from unrealistic aspirations. In this the
counselor plays the part of a teacher. (Kuehn, 1997).

The counselor in rehabilitation counselling determines that all relevant information regarding the client
has been gathered and understood in proper perspective. In fact, client has also developed awareness
that something needs to be done about a specific problem. Further, counselor moves on to develop a
plan in collaboration with client to remediate the concern of the client. The sequence of steps that the
counselor usually follows is as follows. (Leahy, & Wright, 1987).

The counsellor in rehabilitation counselling helps clients to address their problems in a positive way by
helping you to clarify the issues, explore options, develop strategies and increase self-awareness. For
some people, just the process of telling their story to a counsellor, and being listened to, is helpful.
(Leahy, & Wright, 1987).

The role of the counselor in rehabilitation counselling is to assist the person or persons (clients) in
realizing a change in behavior or attitude , to assist them to seek the achievement of goals, assist them
to find help, and in some cases, the role of counselors includes the teaching of social skills, effective
communication, spiritual guidance. ( Lynch, & Lynch, 1998).

They perform various roles such as facilitating learning of subject matter content, assessing assignments,
providing motivation and encouragement, and supervising research/term papers/project work . Each of
these roles requires specific competencies to enable them to perform satisfactorily. ( Lynch, & Lynch,
1998).

A counselor’s roles in rehabilitation counselling may sometimes include aiding one in coping with a
crisis. In some settings, counseling includes premarital and marital counseling, grief and loss (divorce,
death, or amputation), domestic violence, and other types of abuse, special counseling situations like
terminal illness (death and dying) as well as counseling of emotionally and mentally disturbed.
individuals. Counseling could be short-term (brief counseling) or long-term. ( Lynch, & Lynch, 1998).

Therefore in conclusion, counselling is rooted in the principle that individuals can help themselves,
provided that they receive the right kind of support.A counsellor is not there to tell their clients what to
do, or how to do it, but to help them work out for themselves what they are going do, and the best
approach to take. It is, therefore, very individual and person-centred, and those who provide counselling
need to remember that above all.

References

N., L. Berven, (1979). The role and function of the rehabilitationcounselor revisited. Rehabilitation
Counseling Bulletin, 22, 84–88.
A., Gottlieb, & L., Lutsky, (1991). The role of the rehabilitation professional in corporate disability
management. Journal of Rehabilitation , 57(2), 23-28.

M., Kuehn, (1997). Parameters of practice: Policy and law. In D. R. Maki & T. F. Riggar (Eds.),
Rehabilitation counseling: Profession and practice (pp. 55-71). New York: Springer Verlag.

M., J. Leahy, & G., N. Wright, (1987). Professional rehabilitation competency research: Project
methodology. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 31, 94-106.

R., K. Lynch, & R. T. Lynch, (1998). Rehabilitation counseling in the private sector . In R. M. Parker & E. M.
Szymanski (Eds.), Rehabilitation counseling: Basics and beyond (pp. 183-196). Austin, TX: PRO-ED.