Practicum & Internship
Rehabilitation Counseling Practicum
The Rehabilitation Practicum provides a limited opportunity for students to apply their knowledge and skills in community rehabilitation settings. These interactions occur under the direct supervision of a certified rehabilitation counselor. Supervisors with other counseling-related licenses or certifications may be approved as onsite practicum supervisors. The practicum experience facilitate the development of basic rehabilitation counseling skills. In addition, the student will receive individual and group supervision from a program faculty member in accordance with the Practicum and Internship Manual and CACREP standards. A total of 100 contact hours at the practicum site is required for attainment of three credit hours, of which 40 hours must be direct services to individuals with disabilities.
Rehabilitation Counseling Internship
The standard internship is 40 hours per week for 15 weeks, amounting to 600 clock hours, which is required for six credit hours. At least 240 hours of the 600 hours must include direct service to individuals with disabilities. If two semester internships are selected, then 300 clock hours for approximately 8 weeks are required and will amount to no less than 300 hours each semester, which is required for three credit hours.
The purpose of the Rehabilitation Internship is to enable students to:(1) experience the full range of agency services; and (2) have an intensive and supervised opportunity to “put it all together” (case and caseload management; counseling; evaluation and assessment) using the broad range of knowledge of disability, vocational, and psychosocial factors acquired during the coursework portion of the program. The experience will be supervised by an on-site designated supervisor as well as faculty supervisor.
The student are expected to gain the following competencies through the internship experience:
1. Understanding of and appropriate response to administrative policies and procedures.
2. Effective communication and cooperation with professional team members and collaborating agency personnel.
3. Use of prescribed and/or effective case study, management, recording,
evaluation and reporting techniques.
4. Use of appropriate and varied information sources in preparation for vocational diagnosis and planning.
5. Analysis and interpretation of (non-test) data that is relevant to vocational diagnosis.
6. Use of raw data and interpretations or inferences in formulating vocational hypotheses or plans (synthesis and planning).
7. Developing and interpreting information to understand clients’ disabling conditions.
8. Knowledge and effective use of diverse community resources.
9. Awareness and effective use of occupational knowledge and information sources in counseling and planning.
10. Use of standardized tests that reflect knowledge of measurement principles, relevant instruments, and value or limitations of resulting data.
11. Use of counseling and related theory, and psychological information in conducting counseling interviews, group processes and collateral interviews.
12. Demonstration of effective facilitative behavior in counseling and group processes.
13. Use of client-contact situations to elicit, provide, and process information effectively.
14. Use of diverse, appropriate techniques to effect the job placement and job retention of clients.
15. Demonstration of self-awareness and continuing effort to understand self and to improve personal effectiveness.
16. Demonstrating awareness of professions, professional responsibilities, and ethics.
The Practicum and Internship Manual can be accessed by clicking on the link below: