REHABILITATION COUNSELLING: CATALYST FOR ENHANCING SELF-ESTEEM, SOCIAL INTEGRATION AND RELEVANCE OF PERSONS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS IN NIGERIA

Rehabilitation counselling is a critical component of social welfare services designed to address the multifaceted challenges experienced by individuals whose lives have been disrupted by physical, mental, or social disadvantages. These may include persons with disabilities (or special needs), the elderly, the unemployed, individuals with mental illness, substance abuse disorders, and those reintegrating after incarceration. The core of rehabilitation counselling is to empower special needs individuals through capacity building, vocational training, personal autonomy, economic productivity and holistic integration to empower them as contributors to the nation’s economy and development instead of being liabilities. Therefore, multi-level suggestions are proposed on policy, institutional, community, and individual levels for practical action so that persons with special needs would live a meaningful life in Nigeria.