With ever-increasing budget cuts reducing services available from professionally trained staff, the utilization of volunteer elderly peer counselors/helpers in the rehabilitation process can offer professionals an opportunity to maintain or enhance current levels of coverage. Peer counselors can provide a role model, assisting elderly blind clients in rebuilding a network of contacts linking them back into the community at large. Peer counseling is a component of the Senior Blind Program, Michigan Commission for the Blind. The program for the elderly serves a five-county area composed of rural and urban areas.
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