Rehabilitation Psychologist - Roles and Career Prospects

Rehabilitation psychologists support people with troubled background to reorganize their lives and lead a positive, healthy and meaningful life. Psychology is a diverse field and involves studying theories and doing extensive research. As the research brings out hidden truth to the fore the information is further added to the body of knowledge and is made use of while dealing with a particular type of patient. A career in rehabilitation includes getting associated with communities and organization, diagnosing and treating people. They also work independently or team up with professionals from varied fields such as, engineers, school personnel, managers, policy makers, lawyers, scientists and physicians. Thus they contribute to every sphere of the society. Many rehabilitation psychologists job responsibilities make them to work in corporate offices, schools and universities, court rooms, laboratories, prisons, hospitals and community health care centers.

There are varied field of specialization one can specialize in. The graduates can join an acute care hospital and treat patients with problems like, depression, anxiety, pain and other health concerns. They may also choose to serve at physical therapy centers, long term rehabilitation centers etc.

The salaries for rehabilitation psychologists range from $45,000 to $100,000 as per individual experience, expertise and knowledge. Rehabilitation psychology as a career has many more opportunities today as compared to past. Greater life expectancy and effects of aging have resulted in incidences of disability, injury, pain and other chronic illness. According to Disabled in Action, New York based advocacy groups nearly 20% of Americans are disabled and more than 10.7 million of them have conditions severe enough to be need of help with their daily chores and day to day living. Situations such as these have led to an increase in the demand for good rehabilitation psychologists. In the meanwhile the field itself is growing fast and has opportunities galore for the ones specialized with doctoral degree in rehabilitation psychology (click here http://www.rehabilitations.org/rehabilitation-psychology.html).   

Benefits of Counseling in Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation is defined as the process of restoring the patient’s health back to his/her normal state prior to the illness. The process consists of counseling, therapies and medication.

The place where rehabilitation is carried is known as rehabilitation centre. These centers are available in many cities to help the patients.

Need of Rehabilitation Centers:

Rehabilitation is required in the cases of

•Addiction

•Illnesses

•Lost of basic skills after accidents or paralytic attacks

•Injury to the brain

•Mental stress

Rehabilitation Counseling:

The rehab counseling is the systematic process in which the person is assisted with physical, mental, cognitive and emotional disabilities to achieve their goals through counseling.

The counseling process involves communication, goal setting and effective growth or change through self-advocacy, psychological, occupational, communal and behavioral intercessions. The particular techniques and modalities utilized in rehabilitation counseling process includes:

•Assessment and appraisal;

•Diagnosis and treatment planning;

•Individual and group counseling treatment interventions alerting on aiding adjustments to the medical and psychosocial impact of disability;

•Involvement to remove environmental, vocational, and attitudinal barriers;

Benefits of Counseling in Rehabilitation:

•Encourage people to come out from depressed situations

•Install positive attitude and confidence in patients

•Makes people to express their innermost feelings and vent out their anger

•Understand the nature and the personality of the addict

•Helps the mentally disabled patients to accept reality

•Give healing touch to patients and help them to go back to their normal lives without any dependence

Counseling can help the patient to come out from the depressed situations and live their life normally. It helps people to overcome the mental or physical trauma.

Role and Function of Rehab Counselor:

The counselor is the person who encourages the patients to live their life normally overcoming their disabilities and accepting the reality. The roles of the rehabilitation counselor are:

•Counseling

•Rehab clinician

•Case management

•Coordinating

•Problem-solving

•Vocational specialist

After discussing with the patient’s physician, therapist, psychologist and the employer, a rehabilitation program is started.

The rehabilitation program helps the affected people to live their life normally. The rehab centers functioning for helping the disabled and addicts to gain strength and be independent are doing an out-standing job. People should take positive approach and help such organizations. 

Get more information on rehab from www.rehabilitations.org.