Exploring Narrative Ideas in Career Counseling (original) (raw)
Related papers
Narrative career counselling: Theory and exemplars of practice
Australian Psychologist, 2007
This is an electronic version of an article published in [Australian Psychologist 42(3):226-235]. [Australian Psychologist] is available online at informaworldTM with http://dx.Abstract This paper provides an overview of narrative career counselling. Narrative career counselling is presented as a predominant variant of constructivism, which has relatively recently emerged as a significant force within vocational psychology and the practice of career counselling. The Systems Theory Framework and the Theory of Career Construction are introduced as metatheoretical frameworks amendable to constructivism and narrative career counselling. Whilst a stable definition of narrative career counselling cannot be presented at this stage in its theoretical and technical evolution, core theoretical tenets of this new approach to counselling are presented. Exemplars of the practice are described to provide an introductory account of the process of narrative career counselling. Some of the limitations of the approach are described along with a recommendation for the development of theory and research that adequately addresses counselling outcome and process. 3 Narrative Career Counselling: Theory and Exemplars of Practice Commencing with the seminal work of Frank Parsons (1909), Choosing a Vocation, the traditional approaches to vocational guidance (e.g., person-environment fit) have the benefit of over a century of theory development, research, and professional application. In contrast, the constructivist approach to career development (Patton & McMahon, 2006a, 2006b) is relatively new to the profession of psychology. Within the Australian psychological literature, there has been limited coverage of the constructivist approach. In order to partially address the lack of literature, this paper presents a view of the constructivist approach to career counselling by specifically addressing a predominant form of that approachnarrative career counselling. The paper describes features of narrative career counselling and presents prototypical examples of practice. Declaring precise definitions of the terms constructivist, constructivism and social constructionism is a difficult exercise (Young & Collin, 2004) and there is scope for confusion (Reid, 2006a). Within the special issue of the Journal of Vocational Behavior devoted to constructivism and social constructionism,Young and Collin (2004) wrote: [Constructivism] focuses on meaning making and the constructing of the social and psychological worlds through individual, cognitive processes while [social constructionism] emphasizes that the social and psychological worlds are made real (constructed) through social processes and interaction (p.375).
Journal of Employment Counseling, 2010
There is an ongoing movement in the career development counseling field that focuses on narrative-based approaches. The purposes of this article are to analyze the factors that led to a turn to narrative career counseling, to examine the strengths of narrative, and to outline potential limitations. The literature review examined scholarly work in the career development field. Contributions from other disciplines (e.g., medicine) were integrated to provide complementary perspectives. The author contends that there is an appropriate place for narrative in career and employment counseling. Suggestions for addressing limitations and applications for career and employment counselors are highlighted.
Tales of two subjects: Narratives of career counseling
Journal of Vocational Behavior, 2009
Narratives, often quite complex, are at the core of subjective careers. Tools and methodology have been adapted from narratology to analyze career stories thoroughly. This article presents four career counselors' narratives of client that have been analyzed with Greimas' actantial model and semiotic square. This methodology proves to be of value as it brings forth the main issues with which the client and the counselor are dealing. Furthermore, it gives the counselor a means to analyze and reflect on counseling practice.
CAREER COUNSELLING. PERSPECTIVES ON THE SOCIO-DYNAMIC APPROACH AND NARRATIVE METHODS
The article presents an investigation concerning the applicability of the socio-dynamic counselling model for high school students. This type of counselling is based on narrative elements, on the use of creative and therapeutic stories and metaphors to meet the needs of adaptation, of personal and socioprofessional development of students. A challenge for high school counsellors is how to convey clear, appropriate, useful information about the world of work and career opportunities, and how to support the process of self-knowledge and capitalizing on one's potential. Traditionally, career counselling was focused on matching the person to a professional environment on the basis of objective, statistically validated etc. information. The presented approach analyses the idea that the socio-dynamic approach is perceived differently by those involved (students, counsellors). Starting from the premise that the preference for a certain style of work differs depending on the person, the results indicated the existence of gender differences, this type of counselling being preferred by female students. It was also found among the counsellors that there are differences in the preference for the practical use of the model. In their case, the subjective options for a certain way of working were supplemented with an objective factor, namely professional experience, which can be quantified in years of practice in the field.
Life themes in career counselling
This chapter addresses life themes in career counselling. Life themes are conceptualised as significant dimensions of career, subjectively and objectively understood. The chapter includes a brief overview of the notion of life themes with reference to classical theories that have long-held life themes as a core theoretical dimension. A dialogical approach to career counselling for life themes is presented. The approach is based upon the Theory of Dialogical Self and Systems Theory Framework of career development and holds that facilitated conversations with self and others, real or imagined, are a primary site for the exploration and construction of life themes in career counselling. Application of two constructivist career assessment and counselling tools, Career Systems Interview and My Career Chapter, is demonstrated in relation to the case of John. It is concluded that this approach offers an alternative for constructivist career counselling for life themes.
The Career Planning and Adult Development Journal, 2014
Narrative and storytelling-based methods for career counseling, advising and coaching are gaining more attention as the career management field shifts from traditional matching assessments to storytelling approaches and life design (Savickas, 2012) principles. Narrative assessment offers an opportunity to fully engage clients by honoring their past, and building their psychological capital (Luthans, Youssef & Avolio, 2006) necessary to navigate a life of transitions. Narrative methods, tools and techniques to bridge theory and practice have been emerging with greater frequency from Cochran's (1997) textbook to Brott's Storied Approach (2001), and from Severy's (2008) techniques to Stebleton's (2010) careful analysis of the strengths and limitations of narrative methods.One such narrative approach, the CareerCycles method of practice, with its conceptual model, suite of tools and holistic definition of "career" comprehensively includes the many human and sys...