How To Become A Rehabilitation Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a rehabilitation specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Juleen Buser Ph.D.

A rehabilitation specialist is a psychosocial professional who assists people with mental and physical disabilities. Their main objective is to help their clients re-acclimate themselves into society and live their daily lives independently. Rehabilitation specialists also help clients find public resources to further assist them and monitor their progress and reintegration over a certain period of time.

Other more specific responsibilities include helping clients find jobs they can perform, where their disability won't be too much of a hindrance, and also helping their clients to prepare for job interviews. They might also communicate with potential employers to educate them on their clients' physical or mental disabilities.

Rehabilitation specialists often work with other rehab professionals in environments like hospitals, rehab centers, medical clinics, public agencies, and other appropriate facilities. Here they collaborate with doctors, nurses, physical therapists, and other rehabilitation officials. Common skills for this role include communication, active listening, problem-solving, attention to detail, patience, empathy, and compassion.

Since rehabilitation specialists work with clients that have a wide variety of disabilities, they must be educated on both mental and physical disabilities, to know the best approach for each specific case. They often work in sensitive situations with clients that are struggling to rehabilitate themselves, so high emotional intelligence is also crucial for this role.

To become a rehabilitation specialist, you must earn at least a bachelor's degree in rehabilitation counseling. Many states also require a state license in order to be eligible for the position.

What general advice would you give to a rehabilitation specialist?

Juleen Buser Ph.D.

Professor and Director, School Counseling and Coaching Programs, Rider University

Counseling Services (school counseling concentration) and an MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (we have a CMHC concentration and a Dance Movement Therapy concentration in this program). The general advice I would give to graduates starting positions in the counseling field would be to understand the critical importance of the work of helping professionals. Counselors optimally provide a safe space for clients to discuss their fears, worries, anxieties, joys, traumas, insecurities, accomplishments, etc. This ability to be an empathic, listening, accepting presence will be even more crucial for clients in our current situation.

ScoreRehabilitation SpecialistUS Average

Salary

3.4

Avg. Salary $42,934

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.4

Growth rate 11%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.66%

Asian 2.90%

Black or African American 13.69%

Hispanic or Latino 10.79%

Unknown 4.56%

White 66.39%

Gender

female 67.01%

male 32.99%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

7.4

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.0

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.6

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a rehabilitation specialist

Explore rehabilitation specialist education requirements

Most common rehabilitation specialist degrees

Bachelor's

61.5 %

Master's

14.8 %

Associate

12.6 %

Start to develop specific rehabilitation specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Rehabilitation	23.52%
Patients	14.17%
Crisis Intervention	6.24%
Excellent Interpersonal	4.46%
Patient Care	4.45%

Complete relevant rehabilitation specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New rehabilitation specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a rehabilitation specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real rehabilitation specialist resumes.

Research rehabilitation specialist duties and responsibilities

Ensure the facilities' mission are achieved by effectively supervising the mental health rehabilitative efforts of severely and chronically ill patients.
Assist in the development and implementation of ISP goals and objectives.
Utilize extensive administrative, CPR, first aid, and medical equipment training as needed.
Encourage and assist patients to perform specific activities of daily living (ADL's).

Prepare your rehabilitation specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your rehabilitation specialist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a rehabilitation specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable rehabilitation specialist resume templates

Build a professional rehabilitation specialist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your rehabilitation specialist resume.

Apply for rehabilitation specialist jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a rehabilitation specialist job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do rehabilitation specialists rate their job?

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Rehabilitation specialist reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2019

Cons

Dont know

A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2019