Work, for most people with psychiatric disability, is their most important goal and yet they often have more difficulty getting work and maintaining work than other disability groups. Six focus groups were held with consumers of mental health services to explore the reason for this and identify what rehabilitation services should do about this problem. The groups recommended many strategies which have been divided by the authors into three rehabilitation phases. Three check lists have been developed to assist service providers address the range of needs with consumers during the rehabilitation process and to identify service gaps.

As most older adults with intellectual disabilities reside in community based accommodation, the availability of support programs and services becomes important to the maintenance of independent living. Thirty nine community based organisations in Brisbane, Australia that assist people with intellectual disabilities were surveyed regarding the types of programs offered to older adults with intellectual disabilities. The results showed that 75% of the organisations had provided assistance to an older adult with an intellectual disability in the past 12 months. However, none of the agencies surveyed reported that they provided specialised programs or services to older adults with intellectual disabilities.

The increase in students with disabilities in Australian tertiary education settings has placed significant stress on institutions to provide adequate and appropriate support. Disability liaison officers have the responsibility on many Australian campuses but little is known about their training needs and concerns. This study surveyed disability liaison officers about their training needs and concerns. The majority of respondents indicated a need for availability of further training as well as concerns related to the resources available to adequately support students with disabilities. There is a need for the development of appropriate training and for policies that enable adequate resourcing of students with support needs.

The Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test (RBMT) is reviewed and its utility in rehabilitation settings is explored. The RBMT purports to be “ecologically valid” — a test of everyday memory. It is concluded that the RBMT is quick and easy to administer, is available to a range of health professionals, and has high face validity as a measure of everyday memory performance. However, the normative sample obtained was relatively small, limited age-norms were provided, it did not assess incremental learning and there was a tendency to obtain a ceiling effect in non-clinical groups. Additional normative data have been reported by others. The RBMT is most likely to be useful in acute rehabilitation or with more impaired clinical groups and is recommended as a useful tool for the assessment of memory impairment.

The rapid development of the profession of rehabilitation counselling in Australia during the past decade has been accompanied by a high level of staff turnover. This qualitative study identifies the aspects of the work of rehabilitation counsellors that contribute to job satisfaction and occupational stress. The issues identified by subjects can be categorised as aspects of the rehabilitation systems and aspects of the employing organisation. It was concluded that employers of rehabilitation counsellors should develop strategies to enhance job satisfaction and minimise occupational stress in order to reduce staff turnover.