Week 5- Synchronicity

Blog Week 5

In class I spoke about using objective tests and assessments as a springboard for conversations about subjective experiences. I made a note about that on the second page of this article and was pleasantly surprised that these case studies did just that- the counselors utilized assessments in the counseling process, but did not rely solely on these to help the client (Guindon and Hanna, 2002). I like the holistic view and the approach from other religions.

I want to share my own serendipitous moment. The one that comes to mind has to do with career moves for my partner and I.  Our whole move from Virginia had serendipitous moments, but it would take up all 500 words just explaining the story, so instead here is a little snippet: the day after I decided to attend Millersville over West Chester a friend told my husband about an opening at Warwick School District. It was his dream job. The timing was perfect. Had it come earlier I might not have made the decision yet, had it come later he might have had a contract from the other school which already offered him a position in delaware. I have always said that my career decisions are based on knocking on every door and asking god/the universe to open the door which is right for me. Move forward and the path will become visible.  

This idea of serendipity sometimes feels comforting and sometimes causes me anxiety.  If I knew the path ahead, I would not have to worry about the future; however, it is nice knowing that things might work out that I can’t control.  In these case studies, the counselor didn’t simply say “oh, don’t worry, things will work out”.  The counselor still moved forward with techniques to help the client move forward, and yet there an appreciation in hindsight that things will workout beyond our control.

The text talks about this holistic counseling view for people in career crisis looking for meaning. Is there a way we can teach this holistic view of career development before a crisis? I am thinking about school counseling in particular, does this perspective change how we approach career education? The article proposes that “support and guidance in a nonjudgmental, open-ended environment can provide the atmosphere in which to consider more authentic, suitable career options” (Guidon and Hanna, 2002, p. 206).  I think a school counselor could create a similar atmosphere where there is education about setting goals and moving forward; however, also an understanding that career paths happen non-linearly sometimes.

Brown, D. (2012).  Career information, career counseling, and career development

        (10th ed.). New York: Pearson Education, Inc.

Guindon, M. H. and Hanna, F. J. (2002). Coincidence, happenstance, serendipity, fate,

or the hand of God: Case studies in synchronicity. The Career Development

Quarterly, 55, 196-208.

Blog 5

           The class this week was dense by necessity, but I think the information became more solidified by discussing it in our small groups. Dana helped me to see how post-modern techniques can be incorporated into the counseling of diverse clients if done correctly. While I think it may be possible, I am still skeptical, but I am open to the idea. In general, I think that case studies are helpful to discuss. It helps me to envision myself engaging in therapy and it is beneficial to bounce ideas off of one another. I also really enjoyed hearing Joan Blades speak and, while I really connected to her living room conversations, I also think her work with helping women achieve equal pay in the workforce is important. As a woman in the workforce, I believe that my hard work should literally pay off just as much as a man’s would.

I really appreciated this chapter on multicultural counseling because many of the kids that I will work with may come from a different culture than I do. It was also helpful that the author included attributes of different cultural groups. Even though these are not characteristic of every single individual person in each group, it is useful to know generalizations in order to better understand certain populations. I still, however, was not impressed with how applicable post-modern techniques will work with all minorities. The author mentioned that Asians and Native Americans are not comfortable with self-disclosure. While I believe that these populations may open up more with a trusted counselor, I would like examples of how this is possible. Career counseling can be very time sensitive and I worry that counselors may not have enough time to build rapport and engage in this type of career counseling.

            I also would have liked more elaboration on crisis career counseling. I learned in my multicultural counseling class that many minorities want advice from counselors. If the desire for advice is paired with a dire need to obtain a job, it may be difficult to engage in post-modern career counseling. I am excited that there is an option for those in desperate need of a job, but I want to know what this looks like. I believe it is important to learn more information about it, but it was brushed over in this chapter.

            While Guindon and Hanna’s (2002) was certainly interesting, it seemed at first that it would only be used in limited cases. The happenstance events seem otherworldly and unbelievable. After closer examination, however, I realized that many people in America are religious or spiritual and believe in a God that would allow these connections to occur. Additionally, when I was religious, I had similar experiences. I felt like God was calling me to go to Africa and, a week later, found out that my college had a mission trip to North Africa. If my therapist dismissed the connection that I experienced, I may lose trust in him or her. While many therapists may not place much value on these synchronic events, therapists should still respect each of their client’s personal beliefs. I also, however, do not believe that therapist should encourage clients to act on these connections without fully exploring the potential career choice. If, however, the therapy session leads a client to a certain career and he or she also has a dream to support that choice, it may give the client additional comfort in a time of a great transition.

            I also appreciated the case studies that the authors provided. After I first read them, they seemed a little far-fetched. After making my personal connection to them, however, I believe them. These were all people that were taking active measures to find a better career, not people that were sitting around the house waiting for change to happen to them. They were people actively trying to find a better career that happened upon synchronic events.

Brown, D. (2012).  Career information, career counseling, and career development

            (10^th ed.). New York: Pearson Education, Inc.

Guindon, M. H. and Hanna, F. J. (2002). Coincidence, happenstance, serendipity, fate,

or the hand of God: Case studies in synchronicity. The Career Development

Quarterly, 55, 196-208.

Week 5

As few members of the class have already done, I too would like to discuss the speaker Joan Blades. I think Joan touched on a very important topic that relates to our class, and that’s the unfair advantage of mothers in the workplace. I was shocked to see that single mother’s made even less women who were not parenting as well as men. I feel that if anybody should be making more money it should be the working mother. I was also saddened to see that the United States was the only first world country to not provide a paid maternity leave for mothers. Some countries go as far as having paid paternity leave. As future psychologist we are all aware of the importance for the infant and caregiver to bond at an early age, yet we see some cases were a mother gives birth and returns to work the next week to ensure that her family is fed and bills are paid. It is so disheartening to see that countries in worse financial situations than the US still manage to allow mothers to stay at home with their children without having to worry about how to put food on the table.

As far as the article goes, I think that Guindon & Hanna (2002) really do a good job with explaining the concepts of different forms of synchronicity through the case studies.  I was having a little trouble differentiating between the three, but after reading the case studies, I now understand. After reading the case studies, I then tried to reflect back on my life to see if any synchronicity occurred in my life. I was not able to really pinpoint a time with this may have occurred, I think if I had more time to self-examine as the clients did with their career counselors then I may have remembered something.   I would enjoy undergoing meditation, guided imagery, or dream analysis as the article suggests to help recognize some coincidence that may have occurred in my life.

Lastly, during the discussion of last week’s article my group talked about career development just being a constant search for meaning in one’s life. The authors of this article mentioned the same. I think it’s important to realize that one’s dream occupation may not “coming knocking on your door,” until later in life. I found it very intriguing when one group member shared that her mother was in her 50s and still talked about being unsure of what she wanted to do when she “grew up.” I think’s it’s very healthy to be ready to evolve and change as new interests and ideologies form.

Guindon, M. H., & Hanna, F. J. (2002). Coincidence, happenstance, serendipity, fate, or the hand of God: Case studies in synchronicity. The Career Development Quarterly, 50(3), 195-208.

Week 4

After reading the article on "Constructivist counseling for career indecision," I found Parson's way of classifying clients into those who are decided on a career and those who are undecided to be very interesting. As a counselor, I feel as though when you work with a client, you should help them to explore all options even if they are decided on a particular career. I really had to disagree with the findings that those who are undecided are less accomplished and less mature. I was undecided as a college freshman because I was torn between doing something I feel passionate about or choosing something that will guarantee me a large paycheck. I believe I accomplished many things as a high school student and even being accepted into college was a major accomplishment as well. In my situation, this study did not generalize to me. I loved how in time, counselors began focusing on what was the cause of the indecision. I think this is problem in a lot of our daily life events. Many times we see children acting out and we are quick to say "that is a bad child" or "where are the parents", but essentially there is something causing that child to act that way and it is necessary to find out what that cause is rather than start assuming and labeling the child.  I think life stories are a great way to help determine the cause of a client's indecision. But I also think this technique can be used in many other situations as well.

In regards to the chapter on ethics and legal guidelines, it actually made me very nervous to start practicing. I feel like as counselors it is easy for the client to accuse you of things which is why it is important to have a thorough understanding of the ethical code. Ultimately I believe that this program prepares us to enter the world of counseling and when we finish we should be competent enough to carry out these guidelines. I think because I have not made it to the end yet, I have these slight worries of being incompetent but by gaining more experience and learning more about the techniques those feelings will slowly diminish.

Week 4

                Once again, I had a hard time getting through the Savickas (1995) article. As Baker mentioned in class, one of the marks of a bad theory is one that overcomplicates our reality. This theory is paradoxically overly simple, however it is stated in a ridiculously overcomplicated way.

                Basically, the gist of the article is when people are indecisive you should elicit stories to construct a narrative. That’s it. What was said in a number of pages in unnecessarily complex language can be stated simply in a sentence. I got the feeling while reading the article that this theory was created by someone that wasn’t too bright, and to seem more respectable he put it in a complex language to be taken seriously. It reminds me of a story, and I can’t remember exactly what it was about but I think it was positive psychology. The way I remember it, a Ph.D student wanted to do research on happiness and his advisor didn’t think that it would be taken seriously, so the student came up with the more “respectable” term positive psychology. (Again, this may be about something else, but the point is there all the same.)

                Our lives, and especially our career choices, do not always form neat narratives. I do think we all need to find meaning in one way or another, whether through defining it ourselves (the existential philosophy of Sartre) or through God (the existential philosophy of Kierkegaard). Creating a narrative for our lives does nothing to help us realize our worth and personal meaning, and the whole exercise comes across as a pointless activity for children to keep them occupied. If a counselor tried to do this with me, I’d go through the motions half-heartedly to appease them.

                The history of indecision also was completely unnecessary. So at one point people thought either you were undecided or decided. Then they thought there was a scale of indecision. Then they decided that it’s actually complex. Why does the article start this way? How does this help us become better clinicians in helping people deal with this indecision? According to the author, since indecision is a multidimensional concept, the natural application with our clients is to create a narrative of the person’s life? I don’t really see how the concept and the application connect.

                The take away message from the article for me is that indecision is complex and you shouldn’t label clients as either being undecided or decided. Putting ideas as simply as possible facilitates the process of people actually understanding it.  

References

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

Week 4

I really identified with Savickas' (1995) concept of indecision as a subjective experience. I believe all of us have transitioned through a phase of indecision or hesitation prior to fully committing to a career pathway. We are often plagued with similar worries about whether or not the career is an appropriate fit, if we will like it, and if we will be good at it. In terms of my own career development, I feel that I made a decision because the time came where I had to. I was an undeclared sophomore in college. I made the best decision I could based on the experiences and information that I had. I would be lying if I didn't acknowledge that I still occasionally wonder if this is the right path for me. There are clearly so many opportunities and careers that I am completely unaware of due to lack of knowledge and exposure. I think that is a common problem many people encounter when considering a career choice: a lack of knowledge of options.

I enjoyed Savickas’ description of the decision-making process as a continuum rather than a dichotomy of decided versus undecided. This seems more practical, as we are constantly growing, evolving, and gathering information. It is not a dichotomy. I was slightly appalled to read that it was once believed that those who were undecided were perceived to be less mature and less accomplished. I can speak from personal experience that I was very slow to make a decision. However, I never felt as though I was immature or underachieving as a result of this. I constantly made strides in the direction toward decision-making. It seems silly to imply someone is lazy or flawed as a result of indecisiveness and uncertainty. Instead, I feel my indecision may have been indicative of conscientiousness and caution, which are somewhat adaptive if you really think about it. I also found it humorous that it was once believed that career indecision was suggestive of psychopathology - that if you were uncertain what you wanted to do with your life, it meant something was wrong with you. This is almost laughable, but also correlates with what we’ve seen in much of our history. We label people we do not understand as defective and problematic.

I thought relating indecision to a life theme was useful. It seems that themes do have the ability to guide our decisions. I imagine these themes originate as a result of personal experiences and access to opportunity, but also in some instances the theme of indecision may be the result of fear. Honing in on one’s theme would help a client develop an understanding of what direction they may wish to pursue with regard to career choice. Essentially, evaluating one’s theme seems similar to introspection, a careful consideration of what may be influencing one’s decisions or what may be holding them back. 

Savickas, M. L. (1995). Constructivist counseling for career indecision. The Career Development Quarterly, 43(4), 363-373. 

Week 4

There are aspects of constructivist counseling's approach to indecision that I agreed with and did not agree with.  Savickas explained indecision as a multidimensional concept which made much more sense to me (1995).  I think in any decision there is some level of indecisiveness and as a decision is being made it changes on a sliding scale.  I also agree that indecision is a product of hesitation in life changes, however not in all aspects of life.  I am indecisive on a daily basis about what to eat, what to wear to work, and which gas station I will stop at.  I look at it more as a step before any commitment where you are exploring and weighing your options in a decision-making process.  I found the theoretical perspective in line with my thinking; however the implementation explained was far from what my preferential treatment may be.

It may be that I am stuck on my psychotherapeutic ideals, but I do not favor this approach to indecision as a presenting problem.  After reading the case study I felt as though it would be more helpful for the client to come up with her own preoccupation/thematic problem, assess her own identity stories, and have her make her own connections.  The intervention seemed too directive and not collaborative.  The whole implementation felt foreign because the counselor is using their own assumptions based on a small amount of information about this person to assess a problem and intervene.  The stories used in the case study were very simple and obscure.  While they might have been defining moments in the client’s life, it is hard for me to see how one could get an accurate perception of twenty years of someone’s life based on those short stories.  The counselor is also making large culturally biased assumptions based on the short stories.  The amount of assumptions made will affect the rapport with the client, even if the counselor is checking them with the client.  

The most important concern I had reading this article was the lack of incorporating barriers from the real world.  It did not address financial realities, job market realities, or other potential barriers involved in career development planning.  I would be interested to read real case studies using this technique with people of lower socioeconomic status or people with non-Euro-American cultural ideals.  I would find it interesting how one might take a thematic problem of discrimination and oppression and find ways to extrapolate that to the future without making the client feel defeated.

Savickas, M. L. (1995). Constructivist counseling for career indecision. The Career Development Quarterly, 43(4), 363-373.