Georgia State Faculty Awarded $2 Million to Expand Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling Workforce

ATLANTA—Georgia State University Professor Franco Dispenza and Assistant Professor Gemarco Peterson received two $1 million grants from the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration to prepare more clinical rehabilitation counselors to enter the workforce in Georgia.

Clinical rehabilitation counselors are trained professionals who help address the mental health and vocational needs of people with disabilities. Their goal is to help individuals with disabilities become more independent and increase their access to education, employment and well-being.

These are important services in Georgia, where the grant funding will replenish the state’s retiring rehabilitation counseling workforce and support individuals with disabilities across multiple settings.

“Rates of disability are high in Georgia. Georgians living with disabilities want to work and need support to gain access to employment and education,” Dispenza explained. “Working in so many diverse settings – in hospitals, Veterans Administration centers, vocational rehabilitation agencies, centers for independent living and private practice – clinical rehabilitation counselors meet people with disabilities where they are and give them access to vocational, educational and mental health counseling.”

Over the next five years, these two federal grants will prepare 40-45 graduate students in the College of Education & Human Development’s master’s program in clinical rehabilitation counseling program. One grant will focus on students who want to work with transition-aged youth (ages 14-22) living with disabilities; the other grant will support students who want to work with individuals living with psychiatric disabilities.

As part of the accredited counseling curriculum, rehabilitation counseling students complete 700 hours of supervised fieldwork in the master’s program. This provides an opportunity to work with individuals with a wide range of backgrounds and disabilities before they graduate.

Once they earn their degree, they’re eligible to become nationally certified rehabilitation counselors and licensed professional counselors in Georgia, positioning them to make a lasting impact on the state’s disability population.

“We make sure our students understand that when we’re in the field, we’re working with clients through the whole spectrum of human experience and enhancing their ability to engage in the labor market,” Peterson said. “We’re committed to funding and supporting young professionals who want to support Georgians living with disabilities.”

Funded by U.S. Department of Education, Grant Number H129H250005 and H129B250038.