Stephen Van Houten: BOARD MEMBER
Stephen (Steve) Van Houten is a retired Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor who last worked with the Oregon Department of Human Services in Bend. He received his Master’s Degree in Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Oregon
During that time, he helped originate the Oregon Association of Rehabilitation Professionals in the Private Sector (OARPPS) dedicated to establishing ethical competent services for Rehabilitation companies in the state. The business grew to 9 offices and 40 counselors before closing in late 1980s.
Concurrently and after the business closed it’s doors, he was also a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) and worked as a Vocational Expert Witness for the Social Security Administration for about 20 years. Other iterations of his career were:
- Return-to-work coordinator for a hospital
- Managing a medium sized company in the State of Washington
- Working as a VRC for the State of Oregon in partial retirement for several years until fully retiring in 2018
In October of 2019 he experienced a “wake up stroke”. He is committed to the continued work to recover from his own stroke and passionately dedicated to helping others recover from their stroke experiences.