Throughout this academic year, The Rider will explore the programs of study at UTRGV. This is the second installment in our second annual series. The Rider interviewed Fidencio Mercado, an undergraduate program coordinator, clinical associate professor and associate director for the School of Rehabilitation Services and Counseling.
Major: Rehabilitation Services
School: College of Health Affairs
Undergraduate program coordinator: Fidencio Mercado, M.S., LCDC
Prerequisites: None
Total credit hours needed to graduate: 120
What is rehabilitation services? “Rehabilitation services, our program, is aimed at teaching students or giving them the skills in case management [and] job placement. We used to be aligned a lot with vocational assessment with the department of accessibility and rehab services, which was D.A.R.S., but now, they are part of the Texas Workforce Commission. So, there’s a lot of confusion with our program, rehab services. … People think that we’re like O.T. [occupational therapy] or P.T. [physical therapy], but we’re not that kind of rehab. We’re a lot more about working with persons with disabilities. That’s our area of focus, working with persons with disabilities.”
Which classes can students expect to take? “Some of the core courses that relate to the profession are Case Management, we have two sections of that; … Medical Aspects, that [class] deals primarily with all the medical terminology associated with different types of disabilities; Job Placement, that [class] is geared toward helping persons with disabilities find employment; Assessment in Human Services, the assessment, we broadened it to Mental Health Assessment, so depression inventories, substance abuse disorders or substance use disorders [are included]; and we have two practicums, which is somewhat unique and I think it is what I like most about our program. We are able to give students an internship or practicum experience at the end of the program, so their fourth year, the last semester that they are here, they get clinical experience out in the field doing case management or job placement and those types of skills.”
What skills will students learn by the time they graduate? “Case management [and] how to complete intakes. Our program is somewhat similar to social work, and I think a lot more people are familiar with social work. Again, the emphasis for us is persons with disabilities. Now, we have three concentrations. … The general program, concentration in addiction studies, those students are taught very specific skills on how to work with persons who have a substance abuse disorder, so they learn how to identify substance abuse, how to screen for it, and also how to treat it. … In that track, the idea is that our students are trained to become licensed chemical dependency counselors right after graduation. And our last track is the deaf studies track. The deaf studies track does not train to become interpreters, but they are trained to work with persons who are deaf/hard of hearing. We have four sign language courses that they have to take, so of course, beginning and intermediate sign [language]. The sign language three is medical sign language and sign [language] four is more of the psychosocial, so how to interact with people who are deaf or hard of hearing. So, that’s what makes our program unique, the three concentrations. Every concentration has an aspect of disability, it’s just different forms or different specific types.”
What are some possible careers? “Possible careers would be case manager. A good percentage of our graduates go on to work for Tropical Texas Behavioral Health. At Tropical Texas, they can do case management either with adults, with children or families. Some of our graduates have gone on to work at Goodwill Industries; V.A.I.L., the Valley Association for Independent Living; … [and] CPS or Family Protective Services. With the addiction studies concentration, students can graduate and go into addictions counseling, so they can work as LCDC interns, chemical dependency counselor interns. Some of our graduates, through the general rehab [program], will pursue a career in special education, so they do an alternative certification for teaching and then they can become special ed teachers. Again, we’re not a training program for teachers, so we’re not College of Education, but I think the emphasis on disabilities and really knowing the different types of disabilities may have in the classroom helps them be successful in a special ed classroom. Some of our graduates go on to work for Texas Workforce Commission. So, anything that is case management, somewhat related to social work, you can get at the state level, private level or nonprofit level. So, our students have a lot of options when it comes to careers when they graduate.”
What salary can a student expect to earn after graduation? “Salaries are always tricky, because it depends on state or private level. It also depends with experience. So, I know if a student were to go into the education route, usually they’re starting between $40,000 to $42,000 a year as an incoming teacher. With Tropical Texas, CPS, other case management-related positions, usually they’re looking at an average of about $32,000 to $34,000 a year. So, it’s not a lot of money, compared to other disciplines like nursing or something else, but it is a really rewarding profession in being able to work with people with disabilities and being able to help.”
Are there any student organizations related to rehabilitation services? “Yes, we actually have about seven within our school. So, our school is the School of Rehabilitation Services and Counseling. … Our undergraduate program used to be over a thousand majors. When we became UTRGV in 2015, we expanded our program to the Brownsville campus, there was not a rehab program at UTB. So, with our expansion to Brownsville and transition to UTRGV, we’re now under about 800 majors, including pre-rehab majors, but because we’re such a large program and we have different concentrations, we have the seven organizations. So, we have the Graduate Rehab[ilitation] Counselors Association … which is open to all students, undergraduate students included. Then, we have the R.E.H.A.B. Club, Aspiring Substance Abuse Professionals, which is A.S.A.P. So, A.S.A.P. is primarily for those who are addiction studies. We have the Deaf Rehab Club, so those are students that are interested in the deaf studies/hard of hearing. We have Student Accessibility Council. The Student Accessibility Council is part of our school [and] part of our program, but it’s really open to any student on campus who may have accessibility issues on campus, whether it’s accommodations in the classrooms or just accessibility getting around campus. So, that’s really what their focus is. We have the Animal Society. We have a faculty member that loves working with animals and is really an advocate for animal assistance therapy, so that’s what that club focuses on. We have R.E.H.A.B. South, it’s kind of a branch of the R.E.H.A.B. Club, which is primarily at the Brownsville campus. So, the students in the Brownsville campus developed their own organization out there as well. We definitely have an opportunity for students to get involved in organizations. So, all of our organizations are open to any major. You don’t have to be a rehab major to be a part of it. … [You] get to know more about rehab, our program and profession.”
–Compiled by Joahana Segundo
