Horace Sawyer oversees nationally recognized department that is influencing the future of rehabilitation counseling

As chairman of rehabilitation counseling at the College of Health Professions, Horace W. Sawyer, Ed.D., leads a department with a distinguished history of setting educational standards for the profession.

“The UF rehabilitation counseling program has had a tradition of being a national leader since it was established in 1954,” Sawyer said. “As the first graduate program in rehabilitation counseling in the Southeast, the responsibility has naturally flowed to this department to develop leading-edge professional training. In fact, the department has been in a leadership role in every rehabilitation counseling movement, including accreditation and certification of counselors, new curriculum development and continued education.”

The department’s rank as ninth among national graduate programs in rehabilitation counseling by U.S. News and World Report reflects this leadership reputation.

“My vision for the department is for us to obviously continue to be a national leader,” Sawyer said. “In addition, we would like to add a clinical program and become a more strategic member of the college’s research community.”

Rehabilitation counselors serve people with or without disabilities, helping them achieve the highest possible quality of life while addressing issues related to work, school, family, community and daily life. Counselors may specialize in such areas as individual and family counseling, vocational consulting to employers and workers, assessing the impact of disability and addressing the psychosocial needs of people with disabilities.

In the early years of the profession, rehabilitation counselors were trained to serve in government agencies. In the 1980s, as the role of rehabilitation counselors expanded in the private sector to serve clients with worker’s compensation, case management and long-term care issues, the UF program was a leader in the curriculum shift.

Serving as chairman since 1983, Sawyer’s own training innovations as a pioneer in the field of life-care planning have contributed to the department’s high standing.

A life-care plan is prepared to project the future needs, services and equipment a person with a catastrophic injury or illness will need for the rest of his or her life. This can include medical care, rehabilitation, home care, medication, transportation and structural renovations to the home.

In 1985, Sawyer and UF rehabilitation counseling alumnus Paul Deutsch published “Guide to Rehabilitation,” the first textbook to include life-care planning.

“Everyone in this field knows the ‘Guide to Rehabilitation,’” said Roger Weed, Ph.D., a professor and coordinator of the graduate rehabilitation counseling program at Georgia State University. “In this profession, the book is touted as the one you have to have on your shelf.”

In 1995, the College of Health Professions and the department of rehabilitation counseling partnered with Intelicus and, more recently, MediPro Seminars, both national training companies, to provide education in life-care planning to practicing health-care professionals. This led to a national certification of life-care planners, initiated at UF and later transferred to a national accrediting agency, the Commission on Health Care Certification. A Certified Life-Care Planner has proven through training and testing that he or she is knowledgeable about all aspects of developing life-care plans, from understanding medical terminology found in a patient’s record to communicating effectively in medical/rehabilitation staff conferences, depositions and trial testimonies.

Sawyer has continued to emphasize life-care planning as part of the department’s curriculum. He teaches the nation’s only graduate-level course in life-care planning, using real-world examples to expose his students to all of the details they need to consider when developing a plan.

“Life-care plans are a rapidly growing specialty area among rehabilitation professionals around the country, and UF is uniquely positioned to train people in the practice,” Sawyer said. “Those who learn to develop life-care plans are in high demand by insurance companies and the legal community.”

Although he has received numerous awards from his peers, including the Distinguished Career Award in 1994 from the National Council on Rehabilitation Education and the 1999 Educator of the Year award from the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals, Sawyer is most proud of his work with families in planning the long-term care needs of people who have experienced catastrophic injuries and developing programs to train students in this area.

“If I reflected on a ministry in my life, my commitment to these families would have to be part of it,” he said. “Once you meet families with a loved one who has experienced a catastrophic injury or serious illness, you understand the importance of making a difference in other people’s lives. Who better to do that than rehabilitation counselors? They are trained to assist people with disabilities in all areas — home, work and life activities.”

Sawyer describes his management style as participatory, and he calls upon his skills as a counselor to help his faculty narrow in on their own interests in order to achieve personal success.

“I try to find out what areas a faculty member is interested in and feels a passion for and promote that,” he said. “I want them to wake up in the morning excited about what they’ll do that day to advance the profession.”

Sawyer leaves big shoes to fill when he steps down from his position as chairman in June 2004 to serve as a faculty member in the department.

“He has an extraordinary ability to keep on top of the rehabilitation profession, pushing for new horizons in the industry,” Weed said of Sawyer. “He is extremely well known throughout the profession. When Horace Sawyer speaks, people listen.”

In his free time, Sawyer and his wife, Vivian, enjoy traveling and visits with their 13 grandchildren. He also taps into his creative side by producing pen-and-ink drawings of historic scenes and landscape photographs.

“I like to create a scene, a small view of life, through the lens of a camera,” Sawyer said.