From Alaska to Vermont, Rehab Counseling Draws Online Students

Students in UMass Boston’s rehabilitation counseling program can complete their master’s degree in person or online. This flexibility has allowed the program to enroll students who live in over 10 states, including Alaska, South Carolina, Vermont, and right here in Massachusetts. Students enrolled on campus and online are eligible for scholarships to attend through the Rehabilitation Services Administration, which covers at least 70% of program costs.

The program is based at UMass Boston’s School for Global Inclusion and Social Development, the graduate school that also houses the ICI.

Rehabilitation counselors work with people who face challenges to employment, including those with disabilities. The counselor identifies each person’s strengths and interests, and supports them to fulfill their goals, including finding a career in their community.

The program has two tracks: vocational rehabilitation counseling, and clinical rehabilitation counseling. It is accredited through both the Council on Rehabilitation Education (CORE), and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Education Programs (CACREP).

Online students must commit to spending one week on campus at UMass Dartmouth, where they take two face-to-face training classes. Other than that, they complete their degree remotely. The week at UMass Dartmouth occurs at the very beginning of the program, during the summer, and includes an orientation to the program and the field of rehab counseling. The summer session lets new rehab students meet other students and faculty in person (formally and informally), before taking online courses together. Having this face-to-face connection lays a strong foundation for the online study that follows.

Kelly Jochim is a rehab counseling alum who chose to complete the program online. “Being able to choose which state to study and do an internship in allowed me to move to South Carolina,” Jochim explained, “to work with the population I was most interested in studying”: veterans who had served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Jochim emphasized the connection she experienced with the program, even at a distance. She was in constant communication with professors and her advisor, and able to speak with classmates who work at similar agencies.

“I’m always proud to say I graduated from UMass Boston,” Jochim summed up. “The program really prepared me to work with other counselors, and to be able to provide guidance and serve as a mentor to my peers. Also, the online component, and ability to work in my community, provided me with an important work-school-life balance.”

UMass Boston is still accepting students into the rehab counseling program on a space-available basis, and scholarships are still available. Learn more about the program.