Will AI replace Rehabilitation Counselors?
AI reaches a large part of this job’s work.
46/100
High exposure
More exposed to AI than 73% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 70% of the work
What the job involves
Counsel individuals to maximize the independence and employability of persons coping with personal, social, and vocational difficulties that result from birth defects, illness, disease, accidents, aging, or the stress of daily life. Coordinate activities for residents of care and treatment facilities. Assess client needs and design and implement rehabilitation programs that may include personal and vocational counseling, training, and job placement.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(11)
- Confer with clients to discuss their options and goals so that rehabilitation programs and plans for accessing needed services can be developed.
- Develop rehabilitation plans that fit clients' aptitudes, education levels, physical abilities, and career goals.
- Locate barriers to client employment, such as inaccessible work sites, inflexible schedules, or transportation problems, and work with clients to develop strategies for overcoming these barriers.
- Analyze information from interviews, educational and medical records, consultation with other professionals, and diagnostic evaluations to assess clients' abilities, needs, and eligibility for services.
- Prepare and maintain records and case files, including documentation, such as clients' personal and eligibility information, services provided, narratives of client contacts, or relevant correspondence.
and 6 more
Out of reach(6)
- Develop and maintain relationships with community referral sources, such as schools or community groups.
- Maintain close contact with clients during job training and placements to resolve problems and evaluate placement adequacy.
- Arrange for on-site job coaching or assistive devices, such as specially equipped wheelchairs, to help clients adapt to work or school environments.
- Collaborate with clients' families to implement rehabilitation plans, such as behavioral, residential, social, or employment goals.
- Develop diagnostic procedures to determine clients' needs.
and 1 more
Also called
VRC (Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor) · VRC · CRC (Certified Rehabilitation Counselor) · Rehabilitation Specialist · CRC · Homemaking Rehabilitation Consultant · LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor) · LPC
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics