Counseling Strategies to Enhance the Vocational Rehabilitation of Persons After Traumatic Brain Injury

After traumatio brain injuries (TBI), individuals must overcome many barriers to attain their maximum independence. In our sooiety, competitive work remains a major indicator of this independenoe. The model presented in this article stresses that vocational rehabilitation counseling, regardless of the client's particular situation, follows the same basic goals and methods. Those goals are directed toward the attainment of a realistio vocational plan given the individual's skills, abilities and temperaments, as well as the vocational alternatives available to that individual. To achieve those goals, the vocational rehabilitation counselor (VRC) must rely on fundamental counseling skills. A safe, therapeutic environment must be created by carefully listening to the client's ideas and feelings. The VRC assists the client in identifying goals, as well as the behaviors necessary for achieving them. Cooperatively, strategies for defining and achieving both are explored. When inevitable differences surface between the client's perception of the best course of action and that of the VRC, VRCs must provide clear, honest explanations of their reservations about the client's plans, while remaining supportive of the client's motivation to work. Greater responsibility and skill for the counseling relationship must be assumed by the VRC in working with individuals who have had traumatic brain injuries.