Rehabilitation counseling programs prepare people to counsel patients with mental and physical disabilities. Students learn to develop treatment plans to help patients improve their job and coping skills. They learn patient counseling and adjustment psychology. They also learn to evaluate and test patients.

In the past, people with mental retardation or disabilities were often kept from working, even if they wanted to get jobs. It was thought that they wouldn't be able to be productive. Nowadays, many people with mental disabilities are successful working adults. Often, rehabilitation counselors helped them overcome obstacles so that they could find work and have an income. Today, rehabilitation counselors also help people who were hurt on the job, older people with health problems, and people recovering from alcohol or drug addiction.

With a degree in rehabilitation counseling, you can work for government agencies, private businesses, or schools. You can also work for hospitals, job training centers, and social welfare agencies. As a rehabilitation counselor, you provide a variety of services. You interview and evaluate patients, teach people to use technology to achieve goals, and place people in jobs. In addition, you counsel people to feel better about themselves and change their behavior. You can also concentrate on specific disabilities, such as mental illness, deafness, or substance abuse.

In rehabilitation counseling programs, you take courses in psychology, physiology, and therapy techniques. You also take courses in vocational rehabilitation and public policy. Often you are required to take courses in social research methods and statistics. You study different disabilities and how they affect the mind, body, and emotions. You learn how to run individual and group therapy sessions and teach patients how to work and live better.

There are many different kinds of rehabilitation counseling programs. Some two-year schools offer associate degrees or certificates in rehabilitation counseling. Often certificates are offered for people who already have a bachelor's or master's degree in a related field.

A few schools offer bachelor's degrees in rehabilitation counseling. However, a master's in rehabilitation counseling is the most commonly offered degree. About 60 schools also offer minors or concentrations in rehabilitation counseling as part of a general counseling, psychology, nursing, or social work program. Very few schools offer doctoral degrees in rehabilitation counseling alone.

Associate degrees and certificates usually take one to two years to complete. Typically you finish your bachelor's degree in four years. After the bachelor's degree, a master's degree takes two years of additional study.