Blog #9

            I had mixed reactions after reading Chapter 6 about Clients with Special Needs. I was expecting help with counseling those with disabilities, mental illnesses, etc. and indeed I found that information there which was very helpful, but then to find career counseling for women in that chapter kind of made me question what century we were in. Call me naive, but I didn’t think women in the workforce was a “special need”. I understand the point that men are still making more money on average than women, but are women in the workforce really still looked at as needing special help? However, I do see the point that a woman who devotes her early years to childrearing would start later in her life than someone who doesn’t have a family or starts her career before her family. I realize that the time a person enters the workplace really does make a difference, however, I still am not sure that I like that women as a whole are addressed in this chapter. On a positive note, I like that this chapter addressed the needs of those with mental illnesses because I will most likely be working with adults with mental illnesses. I think it is important to become advocates for these clients as well as communicate their strengths and weaknesses to potential employers (Brown, 2012, p. 122). This will help the client and their future employers to modify the workplace to fit their needs.

            Chapter 14 was also very informative for me. I enjoyed reading about what it takes to have a private practice. For me, I would love to be apart of a private practice because of the professional and economic rewards that are available, however, in this economy it would really be quite a risky investment. I really like that the book discusses joining a group practice because then there are referrals that are immediately available to you (Brown, 2012, p. 122). This makes a lot more sense to me especially since I’m interested in offering personal counseling and if I was in a group practice we could offer a variety of different services. I also liked that the book educated me on what a career counselor really does. I never realized that there were such a wide variety of services like individual, group, testing, outplacement, job placement etc. I thought the career counseling field was much more limited than it really is. It just keeps surprising me more and more each week because when I entered this class, I really didn’t know what I would be learning about and each week something new and different is brought to my attention that I never thought of or was never informed of.

Reference

Brown, D. (2012). Career information, career counseling, and career development (10th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.