Abstract
The problem addressed in this project, lack of an internship manual geared towards interning at the DOR, was first noticed when the author was interning at the DOR. The existing manual has clear guidelines on student responsibilities, hours needed for internship, and what is expected of the intern at the internship site from the school’s perspective. The author found the current manual to be very helpful but she would have liked a guide that describes how to obtain an internship at DOR, and what to do once at the internship site, a guide that will clearly give instructions on the whole process of a case and proper documentation methods. This manual is a necessity because once at the internship site, the intern is completely dependent on the guidance of the assigned counselor or supervisor. Counselors at most DOR offices carry an average of 100+ cases and might not always be available for the intern’s questions. In some offices, the interns are not offered any sort of training except shadowing counselors and following a manual that outlines the processes that will be helpful to the intern when they are working with clients. The new DOR student manual will address strategies to obtain an internship, structure of DOR, processes and case documentation procedure specific to DOR, and help interns become better prepared for an internship with DOR. Having a student manual to help interns assimilate well to their first real world experience of being a counselor will be beneficial. This will help reduce the intern’s dependency on other counselors and save valuable time when learning about DOR procedures. For these reasons the author finds the current project will be useful for future DOR interns. Data for this project was obtained through reviewing internship manuals from other Council on Rehabilitation Education [CORE] accredited rehabilitation counseling program, professional journals, and Internet sources. Other sources of data were interviews with supervisors at the CA State Department of Rehabilitation [DOR] supervisors and students of vocational rehabilitation counseling program at California State University, Sacramento and personal experiences from the author’s internship at the CA State Department of Rehabilitation, Antioch. A student guide that addresses strategies to obtain and prepare for an internship with DOR provides information on the case processes and documentation procedure specific to DOR was developed. This guide will help interns become better prepared for an internship with DOR.