University of Kentucky College of Education Department of Early Childhood, Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Rehabilitation Counseling Program TEXT RALPH CRYSTAL: "Welcome. My name is Ralph Crystal and I am the coordinator of the Rehabilitation Counseling Program at the University of Kentucky and also our director of graduate studies. Welcome to our website and welcome to learning about our Rehabilitation Counseling Master's Degree Program. We are very proud of the program and the work that our faculty, students and staff do. On this video you will learn about what we do as a program faculty. You'll be hearing from our faculty. You'll be hearing from our students, some of our students. And in the website, you will see information about the program in more detail, and you will also learn about ways that you apply to this program. And you'll have many of your questions answered. So, we welcome you to our website and to our program. We look forward to receiving your application materials, and we look forward to answering any additional questions you may have. You can feel free, at any time, to contact me. My email address is ralph.crystal@uky.edu, and I will be glad to answer questions that you have about applying to this program and about procedures for admission. So, enjoy your visit with us, and we look forward to hearing from you in the future. Thanks again." MALACHY BISHOP: "Hello, my name is Malachy Bishop. I'm a professor here in the Rehabilitation Counseling Program at the University of Kentucky. I'm also the coordinator of our doctoral program in rehabilitation counseling, education research and policy. I teach courses in the master's and the doctoral programs, and I conduct research on the psychosocial aspects of chronic illness and disability, primarily chronic neurological conditions such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and brain injury. If you're considering doctoral study in rehabilitation counseling, I'd be happy to speak with you and I hope you'll get in touch. I encourage you to visit our website and explore the faculty's research interests. I look forward to hearing from you." SONJA FEIST-PRICE: "Welcome to the graduate program in rehabilitation counseling. I'm delighted that you have an interest in our program. I'm Dr. Feist-Price, and I have a 20-year history in the program as a member of the faculty. Among the courses I teach are Theories and Techniques of Counseling II, Group and Family Therapy, Mental Health Diagnosis and Treatment, and practicum and internship placement courses. I work with students to work with clients with various mental, physical and emotional limitations, and I empower students to meet clients where they are and assist them in maximizing their functional potential. I enjoy working with students to develop their skills to work in various rehabilitation agencies, among them are the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, mental health treatment facilities, Veteran's Administration, as well as correctional settings. I'm happy that you have an interest in rehabilitation counseling, and I hope that you find our website helpful." ALLISON FLEMING: "Hi, I'm Allison Fleming, and I am the newest member of the faculty here at the University of Kentucky Rehab Counseling Program. I'm a recent graduate of Michigan State, and so far I have been teaching the internship class, as well as the Medical and Psychosocial Aspects of Chronic Illness and Disability class. I look forward to seeing some of you next fall." DEBRA HARLEY: "Hi, I would like to welcome you to the program. We offer a master's in rehabilitation counseling. It is a 55- to 60-hour credit program. Our students are usually employed with a state/federal rehabilitation system - the Office for the Blind. They also find employment in corrections, in medical settings, at the VA, and in substance-abuse treatment programs, just to give you an example. The program is core accredited - that's the Council on Rehab Education. Our students qualify to become certified rehabilitation counselors, as well as licensed professional counselors. We offer also a concentration in substance abuse. We offer on-campus and distance learning programming. So, if you're interested in this program, feel free to give us a call, and we'll be glad to talk with you and explain more detail about this program." JACKIE ROGERS: "Welcome to the University of Kentucky. I'm Dr. Jackie Rogers, and I am the coordinator of the online Distance Learning Program in Rehab Counseling. I am also the co-director of the graduate certificate in rehabilitation counseling. Our online program is designed to be completed in 16 months if you take it as outlined in the course sequence. The courses are accelerated. They are presented in an eight-week format. We do not delete any material that we would normally teach on campus, but all of the material is condensed and put into an eight-week format. We welcome your application to the program and look forward to hearing from you." RALPH CRYSTAL: "Hello. My name is Ralph Crystal, and I am the coordinator of the Rehabilitation Counseling Program at the University of Kentucky. And we are here with several of our students. The students are going to be talking to you today about who they are - they're going to introduce themselves. They're going to talk a little bit about their backgrounds, what their interests are. Some are doing field work and they'll tell you a little bit about their field site. And they're going to be finishing up by telling you a little bit about their career and future employment interests. So we're going to start on my left, your right, over here. Patrick, introduce yourself." PATRICK: "Hello, I'm Patrick. I'm married and have a family. I've had a long career, a various number of careers. At this time, I've joined the program to explore something that is closer to my interests. I have a hearing impairment myself, so I have some understanding of what people go through and some of the difficulties they have in finding employment. So it's my hope to be able to go out into the field or perhaps work at the Veteran's Administration or the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation to be able to help people along that line. Currently I'm with the Office for the Blind for my practicum. It's been a very interesting population to work with. This fall I'll be working with the Office for Vocational Rehabilitation, then I will be job hunting after that." DANA: "My name is Dana, and I started the program in the spring [2012], so I will be starting my practicum here in the fall and then my internship in the next spring. I'm interested in working with individuals with substance abuse disabilities, as well as physical disabilities. Some of the sites I'd like to work at for my practicum are the VA and the Office for Vocational Rehabilitation to kind of get a perspective on a variety of disabilities and be able to work with many people rather than one specific disability." BRENNAN: "My name is Brennan Valencourt, and I started the program last May [2012], and currently I am in my practicum at Lord's Legacy Life Ministries in Nicholasville [Ky.]. I work in the adult day-training program. I help with job skills and vocational counseling for individuals with moderate to severe physical and intellectual disabilities. However, I'm more interested in mental health and substance use disorders. In the fall, I'm very excited, I have an internship at Eastern State Hospital, so hopefully I'll get a lot more experience when it comes to mental health and treatments." ANNETTE: "Hi, my name's Annette Reed, and I'm currently doing my practicum with the Office of Vocational Rehab in Georgetown, Kentucky, which is considered a rural setting. We have a diverse group of people with whom we work, some with very significant disabilities and others who are not as disabled who have other needs. I will be doing my internship in the fall at OVR in Lexington [Ky.], and I look forward to working with transition students during that period of time, as well as those who are hearing impaired and just a general case load, as well. I'm really enjoying the program, and I highly recommend UK's OVR program to anyone." RALPH CRYSTAL: "Well, there you have it. Thank you Patrick and Dana and Brennan and Annette. It was very interesting to have you talk about what you're doing, what your interests are, what your future career plans are, and I think you represent a good spectrum of the type of students that we have in this program, students who are highly motivated, are committed, and who are interested in the field of vocational and vocational rehabilitation counseling. We are certainly delighted and pleased to have you with us. I am highly confident that you will all be good representatives, not just of this program, but be exemplary professionals when you graduate. So, again, thank you and I certainly enjoyed hearing what you had to say today."