Grant to Prepare University of Arkansas Students for Careers in Psychiatric Rehabilitation

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Lynn Koch, professor of rehabilitation education and research, and Kristin Higgins, assistant professor of counselor education, were awarded a federal grant of $500,000 to prepare students to work as psychiatric vocational rehabilitation specialists. The grant will pay tuition, fees and stipends for a total of 25 master's level students.

"These students will develop specialized expertise in providing rehabilitation services to clients with mental health conditions such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders and depression," Higgins said.

The grant from the Rehabilitation Services Administration covers a period of five years.

Koch added that "by improving the effectiveness of rehabilitation counselors in working with this population, we can enhance the services that people with mental illness receive."

Because the delivery of effective psychiatric rehabilitation services requires an interdisciplinary approach, the faculty developed this partnership between the rehabilitation counseling and counselor education academic programs. Along with being able to offer the traineeships to students, the faculty have designed a new course and put together a new track within the rehabilitation counseling degree program.

Koch and Higgins will co-teach a rehabilitation counseling course focusing on the vocational and psychosocial aspects of mental illness. An emphasis will be placed on the rehabilitation counselor's role in collaborating with people with psychiatric disabilities to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and increase their capacity to achieve their self-determined career and life goals.

"We think this focus will improve the quality of services our graduates will provide," Koch said.

The course will feature guest speakers who are mental health consumers, rehabilitation service providers and mental health practitioners in the region. Students will take additional counseling courses such as case management and psychopharmacy.

"This will open up great opportunities for rehabilitation students," Higgins said.

Labor projections indicate that state agencies can expect to replace about 3,800 counselors and about 850 supervisors within the next decade, and a pressing need exists for personnel who have received specialized training to address the vocational rehabilitation needs of consumers with mental illness.

The first traineeships will be awarded next spring. The faculty members will encourage applications from people with mental illnesses who have developed effective strategies for managing their illness.

"There is a lot of stigma associated with mental illness, and for people to see someone who has been diagnosed with a mental illness having a good quality of life and a rewarding career can reduce that stigma," Koch said.

The program includes job shadowing and internship requirements with local service providers, many of which are led by graduates of the university's rehabilitation counseling and mental health counseling programs. An advisory committee made up of mental health consumers and psychiatric rehabilitation service providers will be formed to periodically evaluate the program to ensure that it is providing the course content and clinical experiences that students need.

The rehabilitation program has been listed for several years at No. 15 in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of graduate programs. It has also received a No. 1 ranking in the nation for institutional productivity in scholarly publications in the field of rehabilitation following an assessment of authorship in six core rehabilitation journals.

The rehabilitation program emphasizes employment and independent living, and the expansion to address psychiatric disabilities will better prepare graduates to provide recovery-oriented rehabilitation services to individuals with mental illness.