Project FIRST

Project FIRST aims to address the shortage of qualified vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselors and pre-employment transition service (Pre-ETS) specialists working with transition-age youth (14 to 22 years old) with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) by engaging employers in in-demand fields and STEM. Project FRIST will develop an innovative in-service training program that is: 
 
Click here to read more on the Project FIRST initiative.

Published Research

• Harmon, M., Yu, X., Schiro-Geist, C., Zhang, X., Kansakar, Y., Krolik, P., Williams, M., Goodwill, L., & Cozort, S. Having a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling leads to higher closure rates among persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities from the outcome-based perspective. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling. DOI: 10.1891/JARC-2021-0020
• Yu, X., Schiro-Geist, C. Harmon, M.J., Zhang, X., Kansakar, Y., Krolik, P., Williams, M., Goodwill, M.L., Cozort, S. (2022). The Outcome-Based Perspective: Benefits of Field-Specific Rehabilitation Counselor Education. The Journal of Forensic Vocational Analysis, Vol. 21 (2)/ Vol. 22(1) 
• Xinhua Yu, Chrisann Schiro-Geist , Xiaofei Zhang, Patrick Krolik, Jun Cai Beth A. Harms. (2023). A moderate caseload among Vocational rehabilitation counselors achieved the best closure rates for clients with disabilities. Journal of Rehab, Research, Policy, Education.
• Xinhua Yu, Chrisann Schiro-Geist, Xiaofei Zhang, Patrick Krolik, Jun Cai, Margret Goodwill, Beth A. Harms & Jayasimha Reddy Tippireddy. (2023). The Impact of Caseload on Case Closure Rates for Clients with Intellectual and developmental disabilities. Journal of Forensic Vocational Analysis.
• Xinhua Yu, Chrisann Schiro-Geist, Xiaofei Zhang, Patrick Krolik, Jun Cai, Margret Goodwill, Jayasimha Reddy Tippireddy. (2023). Disparities in the Quality of Employment Placement and Live Wage Employment by Counselor’s Training and Caseload among Their Clients with Disabilities. Journal of Forensic Vocational Analysis. In-press. 
• Xinhua Yu, Chrisann Schiro-Geist, Xiaofei Zhang, Patrick Krolik, Jun Cai. (2023). Disparities in the subminimum wage employment among vocational rehabilitation clients: roles of vocational rehabilitation counselors. The Journal of Rehabilitation. In-press. JOR 2023-373.
• Mackay, M. E., Suedmeyer, E., Schiro-Geist, C., West, S. L., & Strohmer, D. C. (2018). Closure rates and counselor education: An exploration of why counselors with MRC degrees do not have better client outcomes than other master’s-level counselors. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 49(3), 389–400. https://doi.org/10.3233/jvr-180982 
• Mackay, M. E., Dunn, J. P., Suedmeyer, E., Schiro-Geist, C., Strohmer, D. C., & West, S. L. (2020). Rehabilitation Counselor Degree Type as a Predictor of Client Outcomes: A Comparison of Quantity Versus Quality in Closure Rates. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 63(2), 91–101.  https://doi.org/10.1177/0034355218806378 

Conference Presentations

Conference Posters

American Public Health Association Conference Fall 2023 - Xinhua Yu, MD, PhD, MS.

American Public Health Association Conference Fall 2023 - Xinhua Yu, MD, PhD, MS.

Project First: Finding Innovative Rehabilitative Services Training