The Department of Veterans Affairs recently honored Janet Cater, a University of Arkansas graduate, for her work as a vocational rehabilitation counselor in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Allison Hickey, the VA’s undersecretary for benefits, recognized Cater during a VA town meeting Oct. 2 in Muskogee.

Cater earned a doctorate in rehabilitation education and research from the College of Education and Health Professions at the U of A in 2010. The rehabilitation program is nationally ranked at No. 16 by U.S. News & World Report.

Cater, who holds certification as a rehabilitation counselor, went to work for the VA soon after earning her doctorate. Since then, she has completed rehabilitation counseling for 81 veterans, assisting them to achieve their employment and educational goals. She has an average caseload of 100 veterans at any one time.

Cater led rehabilitation efforts at the Muskogee VA Regional Office, closing 24 rehabilitation cases last year, the most among counselors for the second year in a row.

“In two of the cases, I assisted veterans with independent living goals and in the other cases I helped put veterans back to work,” she said.

Cater works with veterans of all ages. Her job involves a close examination of each veteran’s circumstances, abilities, aptitudes and goals.

“The work is challenging because some veterans have multiple or severe disabilities,” Cater said. “They are all individuals and our work focuses on each person’s specific needs. We help them understand the reality of what opportunities is available and what is a good fit for them, and we get really excited when people get good jobs.”  

Rehabilitation goals of her clients range from vocational training in areas such as barbering, welding and computer certifications to a master’s degree in nursing, licensed clinical social worker and doctor of optometry.

Cater chairs the Oklahoma Vocational Rehabilitation Panel that reviews complex cases. She also makes electronic medical referrals to the Muskogee VA Medical Center as part of a national joint pilot program. She also participated in the validation of test questions for the national Certified VA Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor assessment program.

Cater published an article in the VA Journal of  Rehabilitation Research & Development based on her dissertation research at the U of A, which examined the psychosocial adjustment of six Army servicewomen to traumatic amputation. More than 1,200 service members experienced traumatic amputation during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom but little is known about their adjustment to that experience and back into society, she said.

She has also published papers about using Skype for qualitative research, which she did for her interviews with the six women in her dissertation. More than 11,000 people from all over the world have viewed her Skype articles at an academic website, and her papers on using Skype for research rank in the top 2 percent of searches on the site.