Rehabilitation Counselor (Vocational)

Major duties include, but are not limited to:

• Provides developmental vocational rehabilitation services to Veterans with a wide array of psychiatric and physical disabilities and psychosocial conditions that present a myriad of barriers, to achieve competitive employment and educational and independent living goals.
• Serves as a consultant to an interdisciplinary treatment team or other clinical staff as it relates to the Veteran's vocational rehabilitation needs. Communicates appropriately with community health care professionals to provide useful input to other team members and employers concerning the Veteran.
• Ensures fidelity to evidence-based and evidence-informed vocational and professional counseling practices. Evaluates Veteran's abilities and disabilities; monitors and records Veteran's progress to ensure goals and objectives are met.
• Conducts biopsychosocial assessments using medical records, pertinent disability documentation, and observation. Incorporates interviews into the assessment with the Veterans and their support systems to generate personal, vocational, and educational histories.
• Synthesizes the information to develop case conceptualization and make clinical recommendations to facilitate treatment planning and provision.
• Selects, administers, and interprets psychometric assessments and vocational instruments to evaluate abilities, transferrable skills, aptitudes, interests, values, preferences, and overall work resilience. Customizes vocational exploration activities, including informational interviews and labor market research, to identify self-determined rehabilitation needs and goals.
• Determines clinical need for and capacity to benefit from therapeutic and rehabilitation services. Vocational programming benefits may include work restoration/resilience treatment, transitional work placement and compensation, financial benefits counseling, potential benefits protections, supported employment, and assistive technology.
• Develops patient-centered treatment plans, using Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic, and Time-based (SMART) goals, and provides regular, ongoing assessment of Veteran's progress. Complete clinical charting and participate in professional peer reviews.
• Provides job development, job placement, job coaching, job accommodation, adaptation, retention, and education services to both Veterans with disabilities and for those employers who employ these Veterans. Conducts a job analysis to identify essential functions and develop reasonable accommodations.
• Promotes employment programs to community employers to establish relationships that will result in providing work opportunities for Veterans with significant behavioral, physical, emotional and/or cognitive impairments.
• Facilitates job placement for Veterans by teaching valuable job search skills, resume/application development, interview skills and basic computer skills. Coordinate job search clubs for Veterans to improve in self-directed job search activities.
• Procures and manages transitional work agreements from community, state, and federal agencies. Monitors worksite compliance with agreements to ensure Veterans are appropriately trained and evaluated consistent with industry standards.
• Devises solutions to reduce and/or eliminate barriers and meet Veterans' placement needs which may require substantial modification to environmental or functional demands within a work setting.
• Provides psychoeducational and/or psychotherapeutic groups to facilitate effective job search skills, employer-desired soft skills, work and life skills fostering independence and recovery.
• Provides disability education and program-specific training to staff and stakeholders. Communicates appropriately with community health care professionals to provide useful input to other team members and employers concerning the Veteran and the family's psychosocial needs.
• Provides vocational rehabilitation counseling services within various settings of the medical center and/or community.