I really enjoyed reading the chapter this week on ethical
standards because I believe it is important that we as counselors are
continually reminding ourselves about them. The examples of “Do no harm” were
helpful in understanding that it is not just common sense. If I cause a client
to become estranged from his or her family due to my advice, I have hurt a
client. As a counselor, I need to be sensitive to each child’s individual
situation. I cannot give the same advice for every situation with every client
because advice that may help one person will not necessarily help another.
I
also thought the section on being advocates for our clients was particularly
important. This is something that we have also discussed in my Multicultural
Counseling class. If there is discrimination or oppression against a certain
culture or race, changing laws could help my client’s issues. If I merely sit
back and give my client advice about his or her current situation, but do not
care about the context that they are living in, I am not doing enough. While I
am not harming my client by not being a huge advocate against societal
constructs that hinder them, I could do more to help him or her become a happy
individual. Also, by advocating for social change to help my current clients, I
will also be contributing to the welfare of potential future clients.
I liked this explanation of a post-modern theory in
Solingen’s (2011) article more than what was in the text last week. In this
type of therapy, it seems as if the client and counselor work as a team to help
the client in his or her career journey. It also seems like a good method to
use with college students who have time to figure out their career paths. The
example given was also particularly helpful in how it can be used. While I do
not believe this is the best type of therapy for children and younger teens, it
could be particularly useful for juniors and seniors in high school. Like college
students, they are close to having careers and have also probably given thought
to what they want to do. Like the case study, high school students, especially
seniors, may benefit from exploration of their past and their indecision if
they do not yet have a chosen career field.
I’m
glad that it is not still widely believed that people who waiver in their
career choices are somehow less mature than those with decided career paths.
First, I think it can be a sign of maturity to decide not to go straight into a
career before a person is ready to do so. Secondly, people with “chosen”
careers do not necessarily want choose them. Some people may stay in their
current careers due to family pressure or fear of the unknown. There is also a difference between people
who are undecided in their career and do nothing about it and those that are
undecided and either try different jobs, seek career counseling or both. People
that fall into the first category will most likely not see much growth through
their indecision. Those in the latter category, however, are partaking in a
special opportunity to find the best career fit for him or her. For example,
college is a very unique time in the life of an emerging adult. People are
allowed to be undecided and there is a cushion of still being a student. This
is a great time for undecided students to go to career services and take a
variety of classes to best understand what he or she wants to do or be upon
graduation and what needs to be done to get there. I believe that indecision to
decision is a spectrum and most of us fall somewhere in between the two.
Brown, D. (2012).
Career information, career
counseling, and career development
(10th ed.). New York:
Pearson Education, Inc.
Solingen, E. (2011). Constructivist counseling for career
indecision. The Career
Development
Quarterly.
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