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Local Government Rehabilitation Worker

Do you want to become a Local Government Rehabilitation Worker? Here is some information to help point you in the right direction:

Job Description - Print Page

Local government rehabilitation workers work with people who have a visual impairment, offering training, advice, information and support to help them live independently.

Working with people of all ages and backgrounds, they help them to develop or adapt their existing skills and abilities. After a detailed assessment covering all areas of the client's life, they agree the help needed.

Although the job varies according to the employer and client needs, rehabilitation workers usually:

•  offer counselling to help clients cope with sight loss
• give advice and information to clients about specific issues, such as the financial and material benefits and local resources they may be entitled to
• offer mobility training, including the use of a long white cane
• help clients to learn or re-learn daily living skills, such as care of themselves and their home, and communication skills including specialist training in Braille, Moon, or IT solutions if appropriate.

Working hours are usually 37 hours a week, from Monday to Friday. Most rehabilitation workers are based in an office, but also spend time travelling to clients in their own homes or at specialist rehabilitation centres. They may also carry out mobility training outdoors.

Salaries range from around £17,000 to £30,000 a year.

Rehabilitation workers should have:

• empathy, patience and understanding, as well as the ability to motivate individuals
• strong communication skills
• literacy, numeracy and IT skills
• a strong interest in working with people from a wide range of backgrounds.

Most rehabilitation workers work for local authority social services departments and other social care providers, such as voluntary organisations for blind and partially sighted people. There is currently a serious shortage of rehabilitation workers in some parts of the UK.

Rehabilitation officers need to have passed the Diploma in Higher Education (DipHE) in Rehabilitation (Visual Impairment). From September 2005, this will be a three-year degree level course. Entrants need to be at least 18, have passed an entrance test and have good IT skills. They should also have evidence of either personal experience of blindness or partial vision, or experience of working with people with visual impairment.

Promotion may be possible to team leader but opportunities are limited in smaller organisations.

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