Rehab Counseling at UA-Fayetteville is honoured on a national stage with impressive recognition

Ben Madilynn July 10, 2023

Rehab Counseling, a track offered at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, has been recognized nationally for its excellent program and curriculum. The program is designed to provide students with the skills and knowledge they need to help individuals with disabilities lead fulfilling lives. Students are trained in various areas, such as assessment and evaluations, counseling techniques and vocational rehabilitation.

The UA-Fayetteville Rehab Counseling Track is distinguished by its commitment to experiential education. Internships and practicums are available to students in a variety of settings including rehabilitation centers, schools and community agencies. The hands-on approach enables students to use the skills that they have learned to solve real-life problems and enhances their understanding of the subject. The emphasis placed on practical training allows students to excel at their careers. It has also led the program to be recognized as being one of the nation’s top rehab counseling tracks.

FAYETTEVILLE — The master’s degree in counseling with a concentration in rehabilitation counseling at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville has been acclaimed for several years, and now the 2023-24 U.S. News & World Report’s best graduate schools list ranks it among the top 20 Best Rehabilitation Counseling tracks.

“Any and all recognition is immensely helpful,” Brent Thomas Williams has been an associate professor in the UA Fayetteville Counseling Program for more than 20 years. “While our rehab track has consistently been ranked as one of the best nationally, recruiting scholars into the field of rehabilitation counseling requires both strategic intentionality and incentivisation as the profession does not have a great deal of cultural visibility.”

The media and pop culture portray mental health counselors quite well, but not rehab counselors. “Though we are proud of our record of training professionals to serve some of the most marginalized members of our society, it requires an unrelenting effort that is often unrecognized.”

According to Williams, a rehabilitation counselor who has dedicated his career to advocating for disabled people, providing services and mentoring future counselors, the program offers grant funding to help train professionals at master’s levels to provide services for people with disability.

The award of more than $48 Million in grant funding and contract contracts will support programs for people with disabilities that face barriers to education, employment and independent life.

“It is difficult to overstate the impact of these training grants,” Williams stated in a university news release. “By providing an essentially free master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling, highly trained professionals are able to offer services to persons with disabilities, many of whom are some of the most marginalized and disenfranchised members of our society.”

“Helping our neighbors participate fully in our communities and realize their full potential greatly reduces their reliance on already over-burdened social programs,” He continued. “It’s truly rare that funding has such a transcendent impact on both individuals and society writ large.”

The Counseling Program offers three federal grants for students who are interested in obtaining a master’s degree with a concentration in Rehabilitation Counseling: M.S. Counseling with an emphasis on psychiatric rehabilition to better serve people with mental disabilities. M.S. In counseling, with an accent on vocational rehabilitation counselling to help those with a range of disabilities. Counseling with an accent on youth transition in rehabilitation counselling to serve transition-aged young people with disabilities.

Nearly 7% of Arkansans are considered to be suffering from mental illness. “serious” According to the University, mental illness is a serious condition.