Rehab Counsellor Hub

The career go-to guide for Rehab Counsellors working in Australia.

REHAB COUNSELLORS IN AUSTRALIA

Degree

Rehabilitation Counsellors facilitate social, educational and economic inclusion for people experiencing illness, injury, disability or disadvantage.

 

The pathway to secure qualifications as a Rehab Counsellor is to complete a degree in Health Science or an Allied Health field at university and then undertake a Masters in Rehabilitation Counselling. This takes 4 years of full-time equivelent study. 

 

The ATAR requirements to study Rehab Counselling are generally 65+.

 

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela

Professional Body

Rehab Counsellors have 2 professional bodies in Australia that you can register with. They are: 

 

  • RCAA: RCAA is the only peak professional body that self-regulates the profession and provides membership services exclusively to tertiary qualified Rehabilitation Counsellors in the Australasian Region. www.rcaa.org.au

 

  • ASORC: ASORC is the peak professional body representing Rehabilitation Counsellors throughout Australia. www.asorc.org.au

 

“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

Career Paths

“Rehabilitation Counsellors work within a counselling and case management framework, across biological, psychological and social domains known as the biopsychosocial framework.” – www.asorc.org.au

 

Occupational Rehabilitation: Case Management of workers with a psychological injury with the goal of a successful return to work. This could be at a rehabilitation provider in the private or public sector, an insurer or a final employer within their RTW co-ordination team. Some jobs include:

  • Rehab Consultant,
  • Injury Management Advisor (IMA),
  • RTWC,
  • CTP Consultant or
  • Self-Insurer Consultant.

 

Other: “Rehabilitation Counsellors may work in areas such as Employment Services Assessments (ESA), injury prevention and management, disability advice, non-vocational disability services, advocacy and public policy.” –  www.asorc.org.au

 

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” – Steve Jobs

Work Arrangement

As a Rehab Counsellor, you can work:

  • Full time,
  • Part time
  • As a Contractor.

Your role could be:

  • Community-based,
  • Office-based,
  • FIFO,
  • Work from home or
  • a combination of some of the above. 


Face-to-face and Telehealth options are widely available in most roles. This offers Rc’s the flexibility to schedule work around their life, as opposed to the other way around.

Locations

As a Rehab Counsellor, you can work anywhere in Australia. You are in exceptionally high demand in metro, rural, regional or remote locations Australia-wide. Check out some of our jobs available for Rehab Counsellors right now. 

 

Rehab Counsellors can also use their degree to support them in their travels. There are many other countries where Rehab Counselling is a highly regarded profession. We highly recommend you make sure to check what the requirements are to practise in each country. 

Salary indicators

  • Graduates: $65,000 – $75,000 base + super
  • 1-2 years’ experience: $75,000 – $85,000 base + super
  • 3-5 Years: $85,000 – $100,000 base + super
  • 5+ Years experience: $100,000 base + super and above. This is when Specialist, Team Leader or Management level roles start to appear as well.

Keep in mind that the above are general indicators. There are always exceptions to the rule and unique circumstances. For example, specialisations, location, industry, role depth, employer salary band-widths, work arrangement etc that also determine the wages offered to Rehab Counsellors.

If you would like to discuss your salary, feel free to contact us.

Benefits

Our Rehab Counsellors are offered and/or we negotiate a range of benefits for them. Benefits differ between industries, roles and organisations. Employers do their best to customise benefits to suit job-seekers. 

 

$: Regular Salary Reviews | Performance Bonus | Extra Superannuation Contributions | Salary sacrifice or Salary Packaging arrangements | Corporate Discounts – one of our NFP clients gives their team discounted Medical and Health Insurance.

 

Tools of Trade: Mobile | Laptop | Tablet  | Speech to Text Software

 

Admin & Reception Support: Free up time by dictating your reports and let the admin team do the rest

 

Travel: Pool Car Access | Novated Lease | Per km reimbursement | GoGet Car Access | Set amount per timeframe | Petrol Card (one of our clients gives their team members petrol card access for work and personal use – booya!)

 

Knowledge & Assessment Suitcase: Subscriptions, both hard-copy and soft-copy | Professional Development $, Comprehensive induction | On-going mentoring and in-services by subject matter experts.

 

“When you are asked if you can do a job, tell ’em, ‘Certainly I can! ‘ Then get busy and find out how to do it.” -Theodore Roosevelt

 

Extra Leave: One of our clients is a school and they give their staff 7 weeks’ leave. Other clients give their staff reservist leave, doona days, volunteer, pet and birthday leave. 

 

Parental Leave: One of our clients gives their staff the difference between their wage and the government mandated parental leave subsidy for the full 16 weeks – Now read that again.

 

Social and team building: Paid for by the company. One of our clients paid for their whole team to do axe-throwing and a cooking class – not on the same day….

 

Health, Wellness & EAP: Pool, yoga  or gym access or contribution | Confidential EAP to assist you when you need a hand. 

 

Career Mapping: Our clients spend a lot of time and money training and supporting you. They would like to see you mutually thrive. Your success and growth = their success and growth. 

 

“Do your job and demand your compensation – but in that order.” – Cary Grant

Advantages of being an RC

  1. Career for life: You’ve got a career for life as an RC. For example, you can work as a Disability Support worker while you study and transition into a Case Management role in Occupational Rehab upon graduation. From there, you may choose to move into a specialist area of RC such as a Vocational Assessor, management based roles or work at a final employer as part of their RTW Coordinator team. Options galore! 
  2. YOLO: Travel across Australia and the world. Your role allows you to work anywhere in Australia and in many countries all over the world. 
  3. Show me the Money: The salary and benefits offered by employers to attract RCs are generous and varied. Graduates straight out of Uni can get a starting salary of $65,000 – $75,000 base + super depending on the role, industry and location. Not to mention the many other perks such as a mobile phone, car, NFP benefits, performance bonuses, CPD and training $ etc. 
  4. Flexibility: You can work full-time, part-time, as a contractor, in the Community, WFH, from an office, via Telehealth or face-to-face. As your lifestyle and stage of life change, you can keep your skills current and customise your work around your needs. 
  5.  

“You need to believe in yourself and what you do. Be tenacious and genuine.” – Christian Louboutin

Challenges of being an RC

These are anecdotal observations based on our conversations with thousands of RCs:

 

  1. KPI: Some of our RCs say they find the idea of billable targets challenging as it associates their work with a dollar amount. 
  2. Too specialised: Some RCs feel that they would like to be able to apply their skills in more industries or in more roles within existing industries that recruit for them. 

International RCs

As a Rehab Counsellor who wants to work in Australia, you need to:

  1. Complete an ASORC online membership application form
  2. Send an email to admin@asorc.org.au with the following attachments:
    – Completed ASORC Supplementary Questions for Applicants with Overseas Qualifications form
    – Overseas Qualifications Formal Assessment from an authorised assessing organisation
    – A screenshot of your IELTS score confirmation to verify your university IELTS score requirement is 7 or higher” www.asorc.org.au

Here is a link for International Rehab Counselling applicants

 

Medijobs Australia highly recommends commencing your Rehab Counselling accreditation process early in your migration journey so that you have plenty of time to get through your accreditation requirements.

 

“Recognize yourself in he and she who are not like you and me.” – Carlos Fuentes

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    The future

    “Your life is your story. Write it well, edit often.” – Susan Statham

    Our team at Medijobs Australia would love to have a chat with you if you’re considering studying Rehab Counselling as a degree, are studying to be a RC right now or are about to Graduate, or are a Rehab Counsellor at any stage of your career.

    We’re here to add value to your career journey – all you have to do is reach out. 

    Contact Medijobs Australia