Post 4

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Post 4 SCCN 645

The goal of constructivist career counseling seems to be - making our “self” known to us so that we may modify our own story in a skillful manner – which I thought sounded a little like CBT. I agree with the Savickas article that; “knowledge is socially constructed” (pg. 1). I like the nod to culture and society. I also like how the theories seem to be more and more dynamic. The focus of constructivist counseling seems to be on career indecision rather than satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Unless we can construe that dissatisfaction may promote some sort of indecision as to whether to remain in the same occupation or make a change. In that case, I am thinking this could also be quite effective. I am wondering if it is meant to target a specific age. I also thought it might be a good fit for the GLBT group or culturally diverse populations – although I don’t remember any reference to that in the article.

I appreciated the progression of the theory from dichotomous thinking to a more spectrum or continuum approach. I did not agree that career indecision indicates a lack of maturity or as the article states, “worse yet…pathology” (Savickas,___, p.2). I think we always need to caution ourselves against judgments as counselors. The longer I live the more I believe there are many facets to any one situation. Additionally, positive and negative attributes can be ascribed to every outcome. Take winning the lottery for example – people may readily label this a very positive event, however, upon closer reflection lottery winners have been known to experience numerous challenges after winning the lottery – even depression. Life is rarely dichotomous.

I know in my own development, I did not make a career decision until I was nearly 22. I considered when I read this article if maybe I was immature or a “late bloomer”. I decided that I was not. I lived independently from my parents in my own apartment and was financially self-supporting (key things for being an adult). Career was a difficult decision for me. I think that important decisions need careful consideration and are best not approached impulsively. I also appreciated Savickas’ point that it is equally important to not get “stuck” in the transformation.

I think it is common that individuals often consider their career to be a major part of their identity. I often hear people identify themselves as their job…I am a counselor rather than I counsel for a living. I think this topic came up on our first night of class. It makes sense to me that it would be important to discover a client’s personal narrative or life theme. I liked the notion of wavering as moving toward a goal by a process of clarification about personal narrative / life theme. I am thinking a little bit about “personal fable” in adolescence and the transformation one makes from feeling unique and disconnected to connecting and meeting individual needs within the context of the society. It seems logical that career would be an appropriate arena to meet these needs.

The role of the counselor in “connecting the past and present to the future” with meaning, understanding and the creation of new possibilities; sounds a great deal like validation and challenging we might do for other life and identity concerns. I wonder why I thought that career counseling was a distinct and unique animal from other counseling – every week I think I write about similarities.

I didn’t think the article spoke to any follow up after the rehearsal of the plan. I am also thinking that it could be possible to stumble onto something deeper for an individual when probing the life theme. During the case study I thought the woman got some positive feedback from the environment and sometimes things don’t work out like that. This could result in a referral for therapy or additional counseling.

Overall, I really enjoyed the article and approach.