Mission
The Department of Counselor Education Rehabilitation Counseling program is committed to improving the lives of persons with disabilities by providing qualified (CRC-eligible) professional rehabilitation counselors trained in the current best practices of rehabilitation services to work in public and private agencies serving a diverse state and nation.

Objectives

• To recruit qualified rehabilitation counselors-in-training who are committed to working with people with disabilities from widely diverse cultures, abilities, dispositions, and backgrounds.

• To train future counselors in effective, sensitive strategies and methods of practice to assist persons from diverse background to obtain their maximum functioning in their community including work.

• To retain counselors-in-training so that they may reach their maximum level of competency, preparation, and satisfaction in their chosen career.

• To place competently trained rehabilitation counselors into community public and private agencies serving persons with disabilities ethically, competently, and sensitively respectful of each person's unique background, value systems, and abilities.

• To provide the community with competent and current services and resources that improves the lives of persons with disability and, in turn, enriching the quality of life for all.
   

Program Objectives
The knowledge or curriculum objectives of the Rehabilitation Counseling program are formulated on the basis of ten (10) core areas: 1) professional identity; 2) social and cultural diversity; 3) human growth and development; 4) employment and career development; 5) counseling and consultation; 6) group work; 7) assessment; 8) research and program evaluation; 9) medical, functional, and environmental aspects of disability; and 10) rehabilitation services and resources.  CORE and rehabilitation counseling standards are empirically-based current best practices in rehabilitation that are research-based.  The rehabilitation counseling objectives reflect CORE (Council on Rehabilitation Education) criteria as well as the conviction of the faculty to provide rehabilitation counseling students with a skill set that is effective, based on sound science, and keeping the needs of consumers at the forefront of professional practice.

Accreditation
The Rehabilitation Counseling program at Northeastern Illinois University is fully accredited by the Council on Rehabilitation Education (CORE), www.core-rehab.org, through 2017 .  The master's degree program admits students twice a year, in the spring and fall terms, and allows for both part-time and full-time study.

Program Information
Currently, the Rehabilitation Counseling program has 28 students.  The program has two full-time tenure-track faculty and two part-time adjunct faculty who teach the CORE accredited curriculum.  The instructor to student ratio is 1:10 on a full-time equivalent basis (FTE).

For the 2010-2011 academic year, a total of 6 students graduated from the program.  One hundred percent of students passed their clinical coursework.

The program currently receives the Rehabilitation Services Administration Long-Term Training Grant (RSA LTTG).  This five-year grant provides $750,000 in funding to train students and runs through the 2014-15 academic year.

Graduates of the NEIU Rehabilitation Counseling program have found employment in State, Federal, community-based, and private agencies.  Many graduates work for the Illinois Department of Rehabilitation Services and the United States Veterans Administration, while others have gone on to pursue doctoral studies.

Certification
Graduate students can sit for the Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) exam upon completion of 75% of rehabilitation counseling coursework.

Licensure
Rehabilitation Counseling graduates who complete the CRC exam with a passing score can apply for licensure in the state of Illinois as a licensed professional counselor (LPC).