Week 4

I thought that the out of class assignment was helpful. After I realized how easy the wiki was to use, I enjoyed posting the articles under our page. I think that this makes the beginning of the project easier because the articles are easily accessible to everyone in the group. I felt that all of the journal articles that I was able to find were very similar in the fact that career development is a lifelong process and should be investigated at a young age in order for more successful results in the future.  The part I found that was most discouraging about this assignment was that when I read some of the abstracts, they sounded like they would be very useful, but I found that some of those that I thought would be really great were not free.

As far as the Constructivist Counseling Article, I thought that it was very interesting. I liked how Savickas started off by defining what a career counseling is; “a social context for making a client’s self intelligible to that client and for modifying that client’s narratives about self” (Savickas, 1995). Many people seem to think that a career counselors’ role is to help their client find a job and that once this is accomplished, the client is sent on their way to live happily ever after. This definition denies that assumption right away.

I liked how decision-making was presented as a continuum in 1970 (Savickas, 1995). I also liked the constructivist perspective, which focuses on the person who is undecided and not the indecision. This change in perspective allows the client to feel that there is room for change rather than seeing their indecision as something that will be set in stone.

I found that this theory concentrated on the client’s identity because it can tell the counselor a lot about why the person is undecided at that certain stage of their life (Savickas, 1995). Narrative identities also tell the counselor how the client plans to close the gap that lies between where the client is and where they ultimately want to be (Savickas, 1995). As a career counselor, this is important to know because it will also give insight as to whether or not the person is realistic with their goals and career aspirations.  The client has to be willing to do what it takes to reach their goal, or else they are wasting their time. This comment goes along with the section in the article that talks about the client needing to be able to voice their inability to make decisions so that they can come up with appropriate actions to meet their goal (Savickas, 1995). Sometimes admitting that you cant’ do something is the hardest part of the process and once it’s said, the steps are put in place to start the process toward meeting the client’s attainable goal.



References:

Savickas, M.L. (1995). Constructivist Counseling for Career Indecision. The Career Development Quarterly. 43(4). 363-373.