Why Is Career Counseling Important?

The role of a counselor takes on many different forms, and it is a very important career, because it helps people make better life choices. The personal values we have, and also how we view the world, can help shape the type of counselor we will be. I will take a self-reflective view of what I hold dear, and also explain how my personal experiences have led me to chose a career in this particular helping profession. I will also describe the differences between the professional counseling, and other helping professions, such as social work for an example. I also will look at how accreditation, licensure, and certification, are important in defining what a counselor is, and does.

Counseling is a tool that is widely used by many people. Merriam Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary defines counseling as advice and support that is given to people to help them deal with problems, and make important decisions. This paper examines the career of a Licensed Professional Counselor, the education requirements, certification and licensure levels or requirements, salary, and the future of this profession.

A professional who holds a Master’s degree in counseling my also chose to have a career as a Vocational counselors. They may also be referred to as a career or employment counselors. These counselors offer counseling services in places other than the school setting. Their main objective is to help individuals with career choices, examine an educational background, employment history, skill and abilities, personalities and other aspects to help them. Additionally, career counselors may offer support services to people who have lost their jobs or experiencing career change issues (Baxter, 1997).

The counseling profession is a complex and constantly changing field. This field contains several unique subcategories that can be intriguing and difficult to understand. However, I believe that if an individual has a strong professional identity, they can achieve a lot in their chosen field.

The words “career counseling” and “substance abuse treatment” on the surface appear as two completely isolated areas, with little interconnection. Personally, as an individual in recovery from addiction, as well as professionally, working as a drug and alcohol case manager, experience has shown me that vocation is very relevant to this population. It is one of the primary goal areas in which I work with my clients on a daily basis. Many of these individuals have completed treatment and are looking for new ways to enter the workforce and provide for themselves and their families, while also battling past career mistakes and missteps. Furthermore, education levels have

One of the overall goals of the career counseling process is for the counselor to assist the client to transition from a stage of exploration of themselves and their abilities, interests and values to that of making career decisions. By identifying this in Ruby helped me guide her throughout our sessions and formulate an action plan to overcome her obstacles and challenges at work. As a counselor I must informed Ruby of the many phrases that we may go through during the career counseling process as well as to discuss the goals of each phase. This process is called “Exploring Phase” then “Decision-Making Phase” (Andersen and Vandehey, 2006, p.179).

What I have learned over the time in this course is career counseling incorporates all aspects of the individual. Yes, career counseling is focused on helping people find that career that fits them best matching their interests and personality but deals with other issues in the individuals’ life. The theory that resonates most with me is Holland’s theory and the use of Self-Directed Search (SDS) to identify interests, abilities, and personality (Sharf, 2013). When we were able to complete the Strong Interest Inventory and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Career Report and compare the result with the SDS to recognize the consistencies. These assessments reinforced my choice of becoming a professional counselor, although with my past career history

The main point of the article is how to include assessments into a career counseling session when clients are making decisions. The article strongly supports using assessments by showing only the benefits of using assessments. This is unlike the textbook that shows that some counselors see using assessments labels clients and that there is cultural bias. Like the textbook, it supports the idea the counselors have to select the assessment based on the client's needs. The article uses the Cognitive Information Processing Model (CIP), a seven- step process on how to use assessments to help the client. The steps include the preliminary interview, preliminary assessment, defining the problem and analyzing the cause, forming goals, developing a learning plan, executing the learning plan, and summative review and generalization. In the CIP model, this happens in the second step, the preliminary assessment. Unlike the textbook, the article describes screening assessments. These assessments are used gather information on the client's career problems, the level of readiness, and factor's impacting career decisions. These assessments seem to be another way to better understand the mind state of the client.

Describe one division of the ACA that interests you. Include the cost of joining, membership benefits, activities, services to members, and current issues.

According to Simpson and Glowiak (2012), "A career counselor may engage in many roles, including consultant, coach, and supervisor (p. 280)." The field of vocational counseling is multidimensional and career counselors must be able to adapt to client needs.  This means that a clinician must be able to interpret those needs and then select the appropriate method to facilitate change.  Peterson and Millier (2005) describe flexibility as one of the most important attributes for a career counselor to posses. Consultation, coaching, and supervision are related but each topic has a set of clearly defined parameters.

With all of the topics discussed by Dr. Capuzzi and participating students (2017) on the conference call, the most meaningful topic for myself that was covered was the need to take a holistic approach to career counseling. Dr. Capuzzi stated that, even as career counselors, we are “dealing with the whole person –their physical health, their mental health, and their spirituality,” (2017, 21:20). He also noted similarities between career counseling and mental health counseling, and made a direct correlation and connection between the two. One way I will incorporate this into future work with clients is to seek understanding of an individual’s entire worldview, life experiences, and culture, as opposed to narrowing the focus simply to discussions surrounding career exploration and difficulties (or successes). Helping

     According to Ratts and Santos (2012), the definition of multiculturalism has been expanded to include sexual orientation, economic status, age, and religion (p. 113). The original definition of the term contained only the social constructs of race and ethnicity.  Traditional methods of career interventions are limited because multicultural issues were not considered in the development of technique and theories (Ratts & Santos, 2012). Before a career counselor can become culturally competent they much first explore their own unconscious biases and be willing to consider how they might negatively and positively affect clients (Teal, Gill, Green, & Crandall, 2012).

Though a generally overlooked and unappreciated field of work, career counseling has made significant impact in the field of psychology. Frank Parsons’ 1906 lecture, “The Ideal City,” emphasizes the need for young people to receive assistance in choosing a vocation (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013). Further, Parsons was one of the pioneers in linking personality traits to vocational success, thus coining him as the father of vocational guidance (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013).

Do you often find yourself locked in a staring competition with the clock, willing it to hit 5 PM so you can finally leave the office? You’ve done every task on your to-do list for today, tomorrow, and even the day after, but somehow there’s still time to spare. Maybe you even find yourself hitting refresh on your inbox, hopeful that you’ll get something (anything?) to add to your plate.

Career Counseling, or Career Services depending on the institution, is frequently offered on a one-on-one basis, but at times this service is provided through group workshops, classes, or computerized guidance systems. Traditionally a standard function of the career services role is to help students develop job search skills however the scope of the