Rehabilitation is an integrated program of interventions that empower individuals with disabilities and chronic health conditions to achieve “personally fulfilling, socially meaningful, and functionally effective interaction” in their daily contexts at FILOKTITIS Rehabilitation Psychology is a specialty area within psychology that focuses on the study and application of psychological knowledge and skills on behalf of individuals with disabilities in order to maximize health and welfare, independence and choice, functional abilities, and social role participation. Rehabilitation Psychologists are uniquely trained and specialized to engage in a broad range of activities including clinical practice, consultation, program development, service provision, teaching and education, training, administration, and development of our policy and advocacy related to persons with disability.
When planning interventions and recommending services, rehabilitation psychologists involve the rehabilitation team and consider the network of an individual’s environments (e.g. familial, social, cultural, physical, service availability, and political) and the means of addressing barriers in these areas, such as personal adaptation, the use of assistive technology and personal assistance services, and modifications of physical and social environments. It is frequently a blend of such products and services that is most beneficial to individuals in achieving desired goals and well-being. The preferences, needs, and resources of persons served are taken into account in treatment planning and any obstacles preventing the highest level of personal and social functioning are identified and reduced or removed when feasible. The broad field of Rehabilitation Psychology includes not only clinical practice, but also rehabilitation program development and administration, teaching of psychology students development of policies for injury prevention and health promotion.
At FILOKTITIS, psychologists work in a variety of settings for inpatient and outpatient department. They are concerned with individuals from a systemic perspective, considering all factors of the person, the context, the relationships in which the person is involved or needs to be involved, the team of treatment providers, as well as the full range of the person’s characteristics, such as gender, temperament or personality, intellectual and cognitive skills, and developmental factors throughout the lifespan, from earliest childhood through late adulthood.
Common populations with whom rehabilitation psychologists work include persons with spinal cord injury; brain injury; stroke and other health conditions typically associated with aging; amputations; neuromuscular disorders; chronic pain; other medical conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, or limb weakness, that have the potential to limit functioning and participation in life activities.