Let’s do a quick thought experiment. Get a piece of paper and pen. Write for
three minutes (yes, please time yourself) while answering the open-ended
question, “What do I want?”
When finished read this note to yourself, flip the piece of paper over, and now
write for five minutes while reflecting on and answering the question, “Between
now and my last breath on earth, what are the things I really want?”
I have done this thought experiment with Master’s students in my career counseling
courses and the answers typically follow several themes. In response to question
one, students often give more superficial near-future type of answers that, in my
mind, highlight the need for counselors who are willing to help clients reflect at a
deeper level. Student responses to question two often illuminate salient life themes
about family, relationships, wellness, dream attainment, and overcoming perceived
deficits or obstacles. The second batch of thematic responses mirrors many of the
reasons clients present for counseling.
As a final step in this thought experiment, please try to imagine a client obtaining
any of the “wants” from this second list without considering the impact of work, job,
life roles, or career. Can you imagine that?
As a counselor, I have a difficult time conceptualizing cases without honoring the
intersection of work and a client’s presenting problem. [Full disclosure, I was first
attracted to the profession because of career counseling and worked as a career
counselor for several years before working in community, mental health, and school
settings.] Let me share a few examples.
The visioning process described above makes me think of the mental health client
who struggled with shame because of a chronic illness that necessitated close
proximity to a bathroom at all times, severely curtailing social relationships and the
ability to retain a job. Work was the place where therapeutic gains were successfully
enacted.
As a school counselor, I had a student who played a pivotal role in family-shared
systematic dumpster diving excursions necessitated by under and unemployment.
The skills that child developed with his family were used as assets upon which he
built a solid academic career focused on attending a postsecondary trade school.
While providing career counseling to college students from immigrant families,
I cannot count the number of times clients struggled with the conflict between
familial career aspirations and personal desires. This sort of multicultural work
has made the impact of career development and counseling more salient to me as a
working counselor due to the complex nature of collectivist career decision-making
and life satisfaction/happiness.
I, like many readers, have accrued many such stories during my counseling career.
Whether we work in community, mental health, career center, and/or school
settings I cannot envision doing our work without being prepared to acknowledge,
support, and actively engage clients around issues of career choice and development
regardless of the presenting problem.
In my mind, it is too often that career counseling is seen as a separate modality
of the profession instead of a salient area of our client’s lives (like health,
relationships, cultural identity, spirituality, etc.) that is “grist for the mill” in our
work.
This is the reason I am proud to write to you today as the President of the recently
chartered Missouri Career Development Association (MoCDA). The purpose of
MoCDA is to engage all Missouri counselors around issues of work and career
development in their counseling practice. This next year will be exciting as our
newly chartered organization works towards this purpose while playing our role in
the continuing development of the counseling profession in Missouri. Please contact
me for more information about MoCDA at hutchisonbr@umsl.edu.
