Unit 2 is the second topic in our Rehabilitation Counseling Foundations module. This unit is designed to offer context about the Rehabilitation Counseling (RC) community and the role that rehab counselors play in Communities of Practice (COP). As you progress through your master's program, you will have numerous opportunities to go deeper and/or to understand the RC community and COPs from different perspectives.
The intention of Unit 2 is: (a) to obtain a contextual snapshot of how rehab counselors apply their knowledge, skills, and advocacy across different settings, (b) to start considering settings that might be compatible with your individual goals for practicum and internship, and (c) to construct an elevator speech about rehabilitation counseling that you can use in most professional and social settings.
The intention of Unit 2 is: (a) to obtain a contextual snapshot of how rehab counselors apply their knowledge, skills, and advocacy across different settings, (b) to start considering settings that might be compatible with your individual goals for practicum and internship, and (c) to construct an elevator speech about rehabilitation counseling that you can use in most professional and social settings.
Unit 2 Learning Objectives
By the end of this unit, you will be able to differentiate the scope of practice, roles, and settings of rehabilitation counselors, including at the federal, tribal, state, and local levels. This learning objective is related to CACREP Standards 5.H.2.a., 5.H.2.i, and 5.H.2.j.
Readings From The Tarvydas & Hartley Textbook
- Chapter 2: Rehabilitation Counseling Professional Competencies
- Chapter 5: Concepts and Models
- Chapter 10: Disability Issues in a Global Context
Your Learning Engagement
Your learning engagement will include the following tasks and learning artifacts:
- Review the PowerPoint from Unit 1
- Read the provided materials and watch the videos below
- Contribute to developing our CRC interview protocol
- Conduct an interview with a CRC and share your individual results
- Construct a visual/graphical representation of the combined CRC interview results
- Develop an elevator speech about rehabilitation counseling
Note: the following learning tasks includes a "connecting the dots" explanation. This explanation is intended to help you understand what the specific learning tasks are about and how they connect to the overall learning objective for the unit.
The learning tasks and learning artifacts in this unit build on one another in a linear fashion. Although this activity begins in Week 2, it will extend for four weeks to allow you enough time to coordinate your interviews and produce your learning artifacts. |
Do Not Wait Until The Last Minute To Begin This Unit
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Each step requires time, energy, and attention that cannot be accomplished without practicing organizational and time management skills. As rehab counselors, you will be managing a variety of "moving pieces" so this is a great opportunity to scaffold and strengthen organizational and time management skills that you already possess that you will use to build your practice around.
Interviewing Rehabilitation Counselors
Connecting The Dots: interviewing is both an art and a science, and as you continue with your program, you'll be going more in-depth with learning about the various components to interviewing. Rehab counselors engage in a variety of interviews, including structured, semi-structured, and unstructured.
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The purpose of this activity is to offer you hands-on experience with developing an interview protocol, conducting a semi-structured interview, and analyzing and synthesizing the results. From conducting intake interviews with consumers and family members to informational interviews with employers, community members, and other professionals, interviewing is a practice in both traveling through a forest of details and then taking a step back to see the big picture ... this is something that rehab counselors do daily no matter what setting they work in.
The following outlines our step-by-step process for achieving our goal of conducting an informational interview with a CRC, presenting individual and combined results, and developing an elevator speech about rehabilitation counseling. |
Step 1 is foundational and focuses on interview formats and how to prepare for an informational interview.
Interview Formats
There are 3 different interview formats: Structured Semi-structured Unstructured This 3-minute video does a nice job explaining differences between interview formats. Although the video is in the context of UX design, the content is applicable to rehab counseling contexts. |
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Attribution: this video is produced by Nielson Norman Group and can be viewed on YouTube.
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Informational Interview Basics
You can watch the 3-minute video, read the linked article, or engage with both materials. Although both sources have some overlap, they also offer different valuable suggestions for how to conduct an informational interview.
Attribution: this video is produced by Centennial College in Canada and can be viewed on YouTube.
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Step 2 in our process is broken down into the following two activities:
Select a Setting To
Interview a CRC |
Develop The
Interview Protocol |
I have connected with organizations and/or individuals who have expressed interest in participating in this exchange. They have agreed to make themselves available to connect with you for an informational interview. Click the link below to access a Google Document where you will sign-up for a setting that interests you most.
Please note, you are responsible for reaching out to the organization and/or individual to introduce yourself and to schedule the interview. Again, this is an opportunity to practice time management skills so refrain from procrastinating on coordinating your interview. Plus, CRCs are usually quite busy so reaching out to them sooner than later will be best. Please contact me if you experience any difficulty with this step. |
As mentioned throughout the informational interview content above, being prepared is a key to success. An initial step to preparing is having a plan for what type of information you will gather and how you will gather it.
Provided you will be conducting semi-structured interviews, I have drafted a preliminary interview protocol that you can access via a Google Document. Although I've gotten us started, this assignment is focused on you and your individual and collective curiosities, therefore, we will customize the interview protocol together. Please add 1-2 questions about topics that interest you most and can be applied across multiple settings and interviewees. You will each use the same protocol to interview CRC professionals; this will help you in subsequent steps in this unit. |
Conduct the Informational Interview
Step 3 is coordinating and conducting the informational interview with a practicing CRC.
Now that you have identified who you will interview and have customized the interview protocol to gather both general and specific information, you are ready to coordinate and conduct your informational interview. Don't forget to practice the professional tips shared from above when coordinating and conducting the interview.
It will be important to consider how you will remember the interviewees responses as you will be sharing these with myself and your peers. For me, my working memory (or short-term memory) isn't always the greatest, which can be challenging when conducting informational interviews while trying to remain present with the interviewee and remembering all the important details they share with me. Thus, two strategies work particularly well that I'd like to share with you:
It will be important to consider how you will remember the interviewees responses as you will be sharing these with myself and your peers. For me, my working memory (or short-term memory) isn't always the greatest, which can be challenging when conducting informational interviews while trying to remain present with the interviewee and remembering all the important details they share with me. Thus, two strategies work particularly well that I'd like to share with you:
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After conducting the interview, you will share your results with myself and your classmates via a Google Drive Folder (at the link below). You can choose to share your results via a written document, or a video or audio recording. It doesn't have to be anything formal, but you should provide details in relation to each of the interview questions from the interview protocol developed in Step 2 above. These details will help you and your peers complete both learning artifact assignments so make sure the results you are sharing are detailed and specific.
Your Learning Artifacts
The fourth and final step is to create your learning artifacts that demonstrate your learning related to this unit's objectives. Click on the links below which will take you to separate pages that offer
more detailed instructions for each learning artifact assignment.
more detailed instructions for each learning artifact assignment.