Certificate in Disability Management

The School of Occupational Therapy offers a Certificate in Disability Management (CDM) Program specifically designed to educate and engage students in the elements of disability management.  Disability management team members provide effective, efficient and safe coordination of services needed to help injured or ill individuals achieve their maximum level of functioning, and facilitate their ability to remain at or return to work. Graduates of the CDM Program will typically work as disability case managers, insurance case managers, return to work facilitators, vocational rehabilitation consultants, vocational counsellors, or employee wellness program administrators.

People in the field of disability management come from many different professional backgrounds such as education, human resources, kinesiology, nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and social work. More and more organizations are recognizing the important role that disability management can play, with benefits of an effective disability management program including reducing cost due to less work disruptions, enhanced employee morale and sense of belonging, as well as improved manpower consistency. Practical applications of disability management have been made in different sectors of occupational activity such as administrative, industrial, service provision, technical and business.  With so many multi-faceted aspects characterizing the field of disability management, the Dalhousie program draws on many bodies of knowledge spanning theoretical and practical application.

Program Overview

The overall goal of the CDM Program is to educate individuals with integrated knowledge and skills necessary to provide quality disability management services, through recognizing and understanding the dynamic interaction between disability and work performance. Upon completion of the CDM Program, students will be able to demonstrate and apply skills and competencies in the areas of:

1. Foundations of Disability Management
2. Communication and Professional Relationships
3. Return to Work and Case Management
4. Policies, Ethics and Legal Issues

The CDM Program is made up of four academic undergraduate three credit hour courses that are taught completely online. These courses are normally taken as electives by students currently enrolled in an academic program at Dalhousie or another Canadian university, however individuals not enrolled in a university program can apply to Dalhousie as a Special Student Undergraduate. Admission is assessed on a case-by-case basis.