Being Scared Is Normal

Have you lost full or partial eyesight?  Are you experiencing feelings like hopelessness, stress and sadness? These are all normal emotions.

Blindness is often an overwhelming personal catastrophe. Typically with the loss of sight, individuals experience other loss as well .... loss of occupation, mobility, and self-esteem. These losses have profound consequences not only for the vision impaired person, but for the family and society as well.

To help individuals and their families learn how to live with visual impairment, as well as cope with the resulting psychological stress, our counselors are ready to help navigate and adjust to this new world.

  Can You Be Employed & Be Visually Impaired?

Visual impairment doesn't mean you have to experience loss of occupation or employment!

We're here to help you acquire the skills you need.  Our employment training skills program helps you to learn new skills so you can continue with the activities that are important to you.

The Role of Counseling for the Vision Impaired

People who lose their sight experience both physical and emotional changes which can affect their personal well being.  Thus, counseling is helpful in addressing the following areas:
1. Adjustment to vision loss
2. Occupation, education and recreation
3. Marriage, family and other relationships

Adjustment

Individuals who become visually impaired must develop a tremendous amount of acceptance and adjust to the new way in which they now deal with their world.  Thus, counseling is important in helping not only the individual, but also families to adjust and to be optimistic about the future. At SDCB, we are committed to providing individuals, groups and families the counseling they need in order to adjust to vision loss.

Professional Staff

Licensed clinical psychologists, Marriage and Family Therapists, social workers and rehabilitation counselors provide ongoing therapy, counseling and social services to individuals adjusting to their vision. Our highly skilled clinical staff works closely with individuals and develops a course of treatment that is uniquely suited to the needs of the client.

The Three Types of Groups to Support an Independent Lifestyle

In order to enable blind and vision impaired clients to remain independent, we also offer three types of support groups.

Group Counseling

The San Diego Center for the Blind offers a number of support groups to assist the individual as they move into a more independent lifestyle.  Small group sessions cover a wide range of topics from dealing with anger and frustration, how to communicate with others, how to maintain a positive outlook towards life, and more. 

Diabetes Support

Due to the high rate of diabetes among the visually impaired population, this is a group designed specifically for visually impaired people with diabetes. We discuss self-monitoring, diet and exercise, and ways to adopt healthy lifestyles.

Transition Support

Being able to actually utilize newly learned skills and techniques in their community is the ultimate goal and true test of living as independently as possible.  Our transition group focuses on life after being a part of the San Diego Center for the Blind and focuses on helping each client make their own personal transition back into their communities.