Meet Susan
Susan Gaudet is a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor with thirty six years of experience working within rehabilitation. After completing her Master’s Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Southern Maine, Susan tested successfully for the Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) examination and has since worked in the vocational rehabilitation field. She was employed at Catholic Charities Maine as their only Employment Specialist, where she developed and implemented vocational programming. Here she supervised a Master’s Degree intern and two peer support workers. While supervising this program, her main objective was vocational evaluation and job placement for 50 chronically mentally ill people with co-morbid disorders. During her tenure, she worked directly with many individuals whom were Workers’ Compensation claimants from case opening to successful case closure. The vocational rehabilitation facet of assisting the worker to suitable gainful employment has been the most rewarding aspect of the Workers’ Compensation process for Susan.
While obtaining her Master’s Degree, Susan completed a 600-hour internship at Maine Medical Center’s Department of Vocational Services. Here she was exposed to learning vocational testing measures and interest inventories, amongst responsibility for evaluation of vocational potential, choosing appropriate therapeutic and developmental programming, provision of direct counseling services (individual, group, crisis), and coordination of related ancillary services within various agencies. Additionally, Susan was required to make periodic assessments of client progress and make necessary adjustments to promote probability of client work success.
Upon departure from psychiatric rehabilitation, Susan worked per-diem as a Vocational Consultant for Human Resource Solutions and Windham Group. Her focus was on performing Transferable Skills Analyses and Labor Market Surveys, as well as job search and placement activities. While at Medical Case Management Group, Susan focused on medical case management of injured workers, developing return to work plans, providing ergonomic assessments and Labor Market Surveys, including expert witness testimony in Maine and Massachusetts. Susan worked as an independent Rehabilitation Counselor for the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs through the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. Expertise includes long-term disability evaluations involving traumatic, catastrophic and recent onset of severely disabling conditions. Major vocational interests include direct client interview and analysis in order to make recommendations to referral source for adaptive devices, accommodation issues, or restorative services needed to return client to gainful employment.
Susan is a Medicare Set-Aside Practitioner.
Prior to specializing vocationally, Susan worked for seventeen years as a psychiatric social worker/case manager, both in New Hampshire and Maine. She resides in the Greater Portland area with her husband and three children.
Education:
Master Degree in Counseling, Rehabilitation
Bachelor Degree in Social Work
Associate Degree in Mental Health Counseling
Associate Degree in Alcoholism Counseling
Professional Certifications:
Certified Rehabilitation Counselor
Medicare Set-Aside Practitioner
Department of Labor Office of Workers’ Compensation Vocational Counselor/OWCP & FECA
Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents Vocational Counselor
New Hampshire Certified Vocational Rehabilitation Profession
Candidate for Life Care Planner Certification
Professional Affiliations:
International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals (IARP)
International Academy of Life Care Planners