Articles

= = This article looks at the benefits of using genograms with children of different ages, which is an area that is lacking in research. The assignments are molded to fit the appropriate age group. = = I. INTRODUCTION A.
 * The use of Genograms in Career Counseling with Elementary, Middle and High School Students **
 * 1) Students of all ages can relate to the work they see –especially with their mother’s occupation.
 * 2) Occupational ideas may form early in life
 * 3) Parent’s support is a key factor that influences their child’s pursuit of higher education (college)
 * 4) Parents should be educated and made aware of the role they have on their children.
 * 5) Practitioners need to raise parent’s awareness of their influence and have creative ways to get parents involved in the career development process.
 * 6) The Genogram is a very flexible tool for career counseling/ can be tailored to match the needs of the client

B. Relating the article to the class discussion posts

 * 1) Considering creative ways to raise awareness about the influence parents have on their children's occupational choice.
 * 2) Things you most/least subscribe to in regards to different points of emphasis at different developmental levels
 * 3) List other limitations that may be a factor that Gibson (2005) did not include.

II. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL A. GOALS- begin the communication process with parents about career-related events, become aware of gender discrepancies in occupations, and identify jobs of family members and jobs in the community B. Career family trees are a good beginning point for enhancing children's career awareness. The activity promotes communication between children and family members about career-related events and thoughts, and it teaches various self-assessment and interviewing techniques that will help children in their career development. Learning these techniques will prepare them for career exploration that they will do in middle school.

II. MIDDLE SCHOOL
 * 1) Students can expand their career family tree, if done in elementary school.
 * 2) Career family tree not done earlier then student can make one now, or make a career genogram
 * 3) The purpose of genograms are to help students understand that their career preferences are related to their family's values, interests, and opportunities. Understanding these dimensions of career can help students assess their motivation in implementing career decisions that later becomes important in high school

III. High School
 * 1) a. GOALS: Identify how personal preferences & interests influence career choices and success; how to apply decision making process to real life situations; Develop education plan to support career goals and use time management skills to balance school, work, and leisure
 * 2) b. Main purpose at this age is: examine themes or patterns within the family that impacted family decisions about career and education. This leads students to examine if these themes are influencing their current decisions about career and education decisions and if these decisions are appropriate for them.
 * 3) c. Students may also be instructed to "identify the patterns of education, skills, training, and work/career among their family members"
 * 4) d. Students should be required to interview at least three generations back about different areas and examine the themes in all areas.
 * 5) e. By using the genogram in high schools, it encourages the school counselor and high school teachers to collaborate on curricular competencies in both the comprehensive developmental guidance program and specific subject area.

IV. LIMITATIONS


 * 1) The actual implementation of this type of tool in the school setting requires time.
 * 2) The use of career family trees and genograms can bring up negative aspects about the family- aspects that elementary aged children may not need to know.
 * 3) Teachers are not trained to process the information in the genogram. For those students/clients that it brings up painful memories or situations it can at least "open the counselor's door" to the student once he or she is ready to talk; also helps raise counselor's awareness of a clients situation
 * 4) Genograms are a self-report tool so it comes with validity issues. Students may provide minimal or incorrect information about the family.
 * 5) Little attention has been given to using career genograms with school-aged children. Research on the use and effectiveness of this type of development assessment technique is needed for professional school counselors and educators to accurately plan for implementation of this tool.

= = V. KEY TERMS = = 1. ** Career Genogram ** : An age-appropriate family tree (in either basic form for elementary aged children or more formally drawn for high-school students) in which every known member’s career and Holland Code is listed with their name and other demographic details. 2. **Life career development**: Self-development over a person's life span through the integration of the roles, settings and events in a person's life. = =

= = VI. REFERENCE

A. Gibson, D. M. (2005). The use of genograms in career counseling with elementary, middle, and high school students. The Career Development Quarterly, 53, 353 – 362.

=2) Spirituality, Religion, and Career Development (Duffy, 2006) =

**A) SUMMARY**: This article looks at the relationship between religion and spirituality (r/s) on career development in research, theory and practice.


 * B) OVERVIEW:**


 * Overview of Literature on R/S and psychological effects
 * One significant aspect that religion brings is a support network, a variable that contributes positively to mental health. Spirituality inspires a desire to serve others.
 * Research has shown that "those who feel supported by God report higher mental health and experience fewer physical health problems, less depression, lower levels of psychological stress, less loneliness and higher self-esteem.
 * Used as a coping mechanism when people are ill
 * "Spirituality" because of the unique, undefined nature, may not provide these same benefits (more research needed in this area)
 * Hill and Pargament discussed research has shown people who report high levels of spirituality and religiousness are more likely to feel support and higher levels of well-being (as cited in Duffy, 2006)
 * Large body of literature also support that individuals who are highly spiritual or religious suffer fewer physical health problems, recover from illnesses more quickly and experience less stress during serious illness than those who do not
 * Research has also shown that individuals who report higher levels of religiousness report lower levels of depression, higher levels of positive affect, less emotional distress and greater life satisfaction
 * Negative aspects:
 * Feeling of ostracism or rejection when a person chooses different lifestyle or when relationships are characterized by fear/guilt
 * Individuals can have insecure attachments with a higher power that could lead to anxiety and lower levels of emotional support


 * R/S in the workplace
 * Definition: "workplace spirituality involves positively sharing, valuing, caring, respecting, acknowledging,and connecting the talents and energies of people in meaningful, goal-directed behavior that enables them to belong, be creative, be personally fulfilled, and take ownership in their combined destiny" (Adams and Csiernik, 2002, p. 43)
 * Has less to do with a higher power and more to do with value systems and community
 * Some studies show that meaning making, meditation and sense of mission (aspects of spirituality) relate positively to job satisfaction, job involvement and productivity
 * Companies shown to have strong corporate cultures, or spirited workplaces, economically outperformed others in investment return and shareholder value


 * R/S in Career Development
 * Good relationships (family/friends) help people make career choices; the relationship to a higher power may serve a similar function
 * Spirituality and religiousness affect the way individuals navigate career-specific tasks
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Positive relationships with friends and family, help individuals perform career development tasks
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Study found that workers who had higher levels of spiritual and religious well-being reported higher levels of job satisfaction
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Spiritituality was found to inspire a desire to serve others and positively relate to career coherence, or the finding of meaning and purpose in a career
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Vocation/calling--careers that are not chiefly financially motivated and that are perceived to be for the good of a higher power or of society
 * Colozzi and Colozzi 2000 explained that vocation is something that a person feels they should be doing; a higher power has influenced them into a career choice (as cited in Duffy, 2006, p. 55).
 * Those who report having a calling reported greater job security and satisfaction
 * Vocation-type careers often centered on social interaction
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Work as a
 * Job - primarily done to make money and is unfulfilling
 * Career - is moderately fulfilling but involves a constant process of trying to get promoted
 * Calling - valuable as an end in itself and serves the greater good


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Holistic Theoretical Model--(How to incorporate r/s into the career counseling process)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">COMMON THEMES IN ALL THEORETICAL METHODS:
 * Spirituality, religiousness and career issues are connected by way of an overall developmental or holistic system
 * Not everyone incorporates these values
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Witmer/Sweeney Holistic Model of Wellness
 * Summary: spirituality influences values and purpose, which in turn influence work
 * Each individual has five basic life tasks: spirituality, self-regulation, work, friendship and love
 * "Each of these five basic tasks builds on the others and, based on the level of importance placed on a task, serves to guide the other four tasks"
 * Definition of spirituality in this theory: "Life enhancing beliefs about human dignity, human rights, and reverence for life"
 * CENTERPIECE: Spirituality serves as the primary influence on values, which guides behavior at work
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Miller/Tideman's Lifecareer Model ("Life is Career" Model)
 * Summary: Individuals let life experience and values guide their career paths
 * Encourages individuals to learn as they go, be flexible and open to new career paths, and develop their own personal theory about career decision making
 * The focus is on finding the right life, not on career as a complement or the primary focus of life
 * R/S can play a role in this process if they are values important to the individual
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Brewer's Vocational Souljourn Model
 * Life is guided by three basic principles:
 * Meaning--the "what" of life and defines one's values
 * Being--who one is
 * Doing--the action or "how" of life
 * NOTE: These principles need to be in equilibrium for the person to remain stable in their lives
 * Four types of work (doing) (On a spectrum: joboccupationcareervocation)
 * job--temporary, financially driven work
 * Occupation
 * Career
 * Vocation--personally significant path that serves as the highest nature of work
 * in order to have stability, three principles must be in equilibrium
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bloch's Model of Spirituality and Career Counseling
 * Career counselors need to guide clients to their true calling instead of just determining the most convenient or lucrative option
 * Founded on complexity theory
 * in any system, each component is directly or indirectly affected by the other components
 * Spirituality is one value that affects the system
 * Individuals who have higher level of spiritual and religious well being have a higher level of job satisfaction


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Counseling Implications
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There is a lack of empirical research connecting spirituality to career process, but we should be open to understanding its reliance to the individual
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">R/S may play a role in people's career decisions, and counselors need to be aware of this fact
 * May be helpful to explore these issues with a client to determine how much they affect their decisions
 * Also, because many (if not most) people will not be able to do something that they love, counselors, can explore where the person can apply their gifts in an unpaid setting
 * Many people will be working in jobs that have little meaning and that leave clients with little sense of satisfaction so it is important that counselors explore where meaning and satisfaction could be found away from work, especially if the client's life circumstances do not allow for career change.
 * Research has shown that in difficult times, individuals with large support networks and resources are most capable of overcoming the negative consequences and prospering
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Counselors should actively address with students/clients the types of career they feel drawn to
 * AND the reasons behind these feelings
 * Goal: helping students/clients discern their true calling rather than simply determine their most convenient or lucrative career opportunities


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Future Research
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">investigate if and to what extent individuals' spirituality and religiousness shape the types of career they decide to pursue
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">extent to which workers chose careers to which they feel called, motivated by a higher power, or societal need
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">terminology for calling and vocation as research moves way from these being strictly referred to as God
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">C) TERMS: **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Religiousness - a person's relationship with a certain religion, church, or faith community
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Spirituality - refers to varying concepts, such as an individual's relationship with a higher power or powers, a type of energy or guiding force, or a belief system in a common good


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">D) Applying the article to class discussion post: **
 * 1) Taking a side on the idea of spirituality being analogous to attachment relationships that we form early in life. Does this help with overcoming stressors in our lives?
 * 2) Connecting with our own idea of "workplace spirituality" and providing examples if we have/haven't experienced it.
 * 3) Is spirituality and religiousness a distinct, influential, separate line of development or related to other important constructs like worth ethic, values, and personal ethics.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">E) REFERENCE: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Duffy, R. D. (2006). Spirituality, religion, and development: Current status and future directions. The Career Development Quarterly, 55, 52-63. = =

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3) Serendipity in Career Counseling (Guidon & Hanna, 2002) =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**A) SUMMARY:** The article considers the role of "chance happenings" (synchronicity) in the career search, and describes three case studies to emphasize that the role that serendipity can play on the process


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">B) OVERVIEW: **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Super's trait theory shows the traditional approach to career that focuses on a linear, progressive, rational process
 * However, unknowable instances of coincidence affect a career search.
 * TF, Guidon and Hanna suggest that "synchronicity" (the occurrence of a meaningful coincidence in time) plays a role in the career process
 * Integrating a broader range of factors (subjective, transcendent, spiritual dimensions) in the career search along with the more deterministic systems (like trait theory; values, skills, needs, personality) can enable career counselors to practice from a more holistic framework


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">SYNCHRONICITY (primarily associated with the unconscious)
 * "accounts for striking and apparently inexplicable occurrences that link two or more events, usually an inner thought or feeling and an outer event"(Guidon & Hanna, 2002, p. 197).
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Aha! moments
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">second-order change- insights into self
 * an opportunity for greater/deeper change of self
 * second-order change is more meaningful
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Incorporating the idea of synchronicity emerged in counseling when Jung created the concept in the 1930's In order to have synchronicity need to have self-awareness
 * Jung believed that these were "acausal exceptions to the statistical truth of causality (p. 197)" and that these exceptions are experienceable and real
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">not all things can be statistically explained
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Takes three forms: Synchronistic events in the client's life can be used within career counseling and may be interpreted in a collaborative effort between the counselor and the client in the event's meaning in the client's life/career
 * 1) //Coincidence of an idea/thought with an occurrence that is perceived to take place simultaneously// (Example of this one is when the man quits his job and then just as he is pursuing his dream his friend happens to have a building where he can open up his new business and fulfill his dream)
 * 2) //Coincidence of a dream/vision that later plays out in a more or less faithful reflection in real life later on// (Example of this one is where the teacher has the dream with a man chasing her with a 2x4 through a building full of unfinished rooms, she couldn't see the mans face but she had a feeling she knew who he was)
 * 3) //Coincidence of a dream/vision with a future occurrence// ( when symbols that may seem nothing later turn to have great meaning when the "aha" moment happens. Example: when the woman keeps having the reoccuring dream about being by a stream and the white stallion, with the military man who just tips his hat as he gallops away. Then she sees the black stallion with the red saddle and he seems to be calling to her)
 * (Subjective psychic state with a dream or vision with a corresponding objective event that takes place in the future and is represented in the present by the dream or vision)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jung used meditation, guided imagery, active imagination and dream analysis to uncover synchronistic events
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jung was largely influenced by Eastern religions (i.e. Buddhism and Hinduism) (the interdependence of everything, the bone and body analogy )


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">IMPLICATIONS FOR CAREER COUNSELING
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Career counseling should lead client to self examination
 * Self explore beyond interests and abilities
 * Drop false persona
 * Develop congruent, authentic identities
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Career counselors may need to broaden their view about their function in facilitating their clients' career decisions." (p. 205)
 * Need to look at the career counseling process holistically to help lead client to discover self-identity
 * Career counselors need to view careers as meaningful life's work
 * Career counselors are supportive coaches for their clients
 * Relying on mechanistic, trait factor assessments and formulas only may limit the effectiveness of career counseling
 * Bloch discussed this traditional approach to career counseling may not be serving the client fully because trait factor assessments do not help someone find meaning in their life (as cited in Guidon & Hanna, 2002).
 * Career counselors need to recognize that synchronistic events are normal and expected components in career development vs seeing them as random with no meaning
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Four elements that lead to synchronistic thinking Counselors should help clients what to do with Aha! moments
 * Understanding the existence and universality of synchronistic phenomena as realities grounded in religion, non-Western worldviews
 * A willingness to investigate one's own sense of spirituality in its broadest context
 * A willingness to be unconventional in a rather conventional field
 * A willingness to use non-traditional techniques as part of the career development process
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">C) TERMS: **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Authentic self - An understanding and integration of one’s true interests, abilities, and values
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Existentialist view - Meaning in life is critical to well-being
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Individuation (Jung) - The process through which we risk becoming who we really are
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Transcendence - Overarching insight, or “aha” experience that directs psychological acts, metacognitive processes toward awareness, thought, and affect
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Second-order change - Profound restructuring of the self
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Pattica-samuppada - All persons, places, objects, and events are interconnected
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Brahman - Self, world, and consciousness are merely aspects of the same ultimate reality
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">D) Applying the article to class discussion post: **
 * 1) Think of experiences with own second-order change/ "aha" moment in regards to career development process. What insights did this generate or tell you about yourself/environment?
 * 2) Consider personal experiences with any forms of Jungian synchronicity and consider if you can bring this about or if it is chance/happenstance.
 * 3) Consider case studies presented in the article and determine if they are just coincidences. Determine the role of the counselors in each case study and determine how your future career counseling processed could be changed.
 * 1) Consider case studies presented in the article and determine if they are just coincidences. Determine the role of the counselors in each case study and determine how your future career counseling processed could be changed.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">E) REFERENCE: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Guindon, M., & Hanna, F. (2002). Coincidence, happenstance, serendipity, fate, or the hand of god: Case studies in synchronicity. The Career Development Quarterly, 50, 195-208.

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4) Complexity, chaos, and Nonlinear Dynamics: A New Perspective on Career Development Theory (Bloch, 2005) =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**A) SUMMARY:** Bloch tries to relate physics and mathematics to principles that guide career development in order to establish a wholistic model that emphasizes relationship (between jobs, between people, between people and a higher power).
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Focuses on relationship and nonlinear dynamics
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Careers are "Complex Adaptive Entities" (as defined below)


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">B) OVERVIEW: **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Her theories would fit in with post-modern theories of career development because they are extremely abstract and really look at the client's approach to life and significant events and people that influence the client in relation to their search for career fulfillment
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bloch's approach contrasts with reductionist approaches of Holland and Super Objects westernized thinking--the scientific method (career development cannot be conceptualized through the scientific method)
 * Reductionist--finding and isolating all the parts will lead to the total or sum of knowledge about a phenomenon or organism,yielding reliable predictions and replicable interventions
 * From a nonlinear perspective, everything is inter-related;
 * The phrase "no man is an island" sums up this concept
 * The secret career stories of coincidence and "just luck" actually reveal the reality for Bloch.
 * most individuals experience nonlinear career path
 * __<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Basic Framework for Bloch's Theory: __
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chaos theory/complexity theory/nonlinear dynamics attempt to explain the behavior of complex adaptive entities
 * 11 Characteristics of Complex Adaptive Entities (and application to careers)
 * 1. Entities have the ability to maintain themselves, although their components and shapes may change (Autopiesis).
 * People continually reinvent their careers, moving freely among, within, and outside of macrocycles and roles previously identified as the anticipated career paths of "healthy" individuals. (self regeneration)
 * 2. Entities are open and maintain themselves through the ongoing flow and interchange of components or energy (Open-exchange).
 * Career requires give and take with the outside world
 * 3. Entities are part of networks.
 * Career is part of the network of education, occupation, industries, other employees, needs of the community, local and global economics...
 * 4. Entities are parts of fractals of other entities.
 * the career of a person is a portion (fractal) of that person's life
 * 5. Entities are dynamic, with phase transitions which are the opportunity for creativity and the emergence of new forms.
 * Several transitions in career (school, work, another job) move people between order-chaos
 * 6. Entities seek fitness peaks during phase transitions.
 * People are always on the search for the best job for themselves
 * A fitness peak for an organism is a high point of health, fitness, and adaptability to one's environment. Fitness peaks can be good or bad. Usually they turn out fine, but Bloch does say that in order to reach career fulfillment one has to take risks and not be timid. At the same time, the client needs to evaluate the risks. Too much risk could result in failure at the new career choice and then the client will be stuck right where they started with an even more damaged self-esteem. Too little risk and the person stays stuck in their rut.
 * 7. Entities behave in nonlinear ways
 * Patterns in work are not necessarily explicable; it's a series of choices the individual makes
 * "noise" is most important in understanding the nonlinear dynamics
 * 8. Small change brings about large effects (Sensitive dependence).
 * Random, small factors can create incredible changes in the career track (economics, relational dynamics)
 * 9. Entities may retain life and shape in response to several types of attractors that limit movement and growth.
 * Point Attractor
 * an entity shaped by a point attractor returns repeatedly to the same state as if drawn by a magnet
 * Pendulum Attractor
 * an entity shaped by a pendulum attractor moves back and forth between two identifiable states
 * Torus Attractor
 * an entity held in place by torus attractor moves around, and again around in a circular pattern (like a doughnut)
 * 10. Entities may retain life through the creation of new forms, a quality known as emergence (Role of strange attractors)
 * Strange Attractor
 * an entity that forms unique figures or fractals when plotted mathematically (neither linear nor contained)
 * Unexpected variables can influence a career path
 * 11. Entities exist as part of nested inseparability or connectedness (Spirituality).
 * Seven connectors between spirit and work (Bloch and Richmond, 1998):
 * 1) Change: open to change in self and world
 * 2) Balance: finding balance among all activities of life
 * 3) Energy: feeling as if you have enough energy to do the things you want to do
 * 4) Community: working within a team or group
 * 5) Calling: believing that one is called to the work being done
 * 6) Harmony: one's talents, interests, and values harmonize with one's work environment
 * 7) Unity: believing that one's work has a purpose
 * From Bloch's perspective, Career is a complex adaptive entity
 * By applying nonlinear dynamics, Bloch maintains that "practitioners can understand and explain what otherwise appears to be the messiness of life, the underlying order in what otherwise appears to be random" (p 196.)
 * APPLICATION OF THEORY ON CAREER DEVELOPMENT (p. 204-205)
 * When working with clients, try to identify phase transitions (times when there is chaos and people are in flux), identify attractors that have affected people in the past, and look for "fitness points" (places that the client has or will excel)
 * Start with the WHOLE not the parts (unlike reductive folks like Super/Holland)
 * Use narrative and play to help clients (maybe even employ paper/crayons)
 * Use storytelling to identify themes and create new opportunities
 * Leave room for spiritual connections during storytelling, narratives and play
 * Recognize the chaos of the transition, but help offset it by identifying transferrable skills
 * Identify the power of small changes
 * If client tends to "rush off the edge of chaos (p. 204)," help to see where it has been unsatisfying in the past, but do not discourage it.
 * Try to help the client to identify the connections between previous work and the current step
 * Even though these unfulfilled or indecisive clients seem chaotic, there is actually a method to their madness and patterns do develop even through their chaos. These patterns can be viewed as good or bad. Alexander Graham Bell has a famous quote that can explain how these changes can be good ones if put into perspective. He says, "When one door closes: another opens: but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." As career counselors we need to point out to our clients the emerging patterns in their career development, as well as the new doors opening for them that they are having difficulty seeing. Clients often will be so focused on the rut they are in that they do not look "outside the box" for creative solutions to their career dilemma. This is where we can show them how their existing pattern is dysfunctional and how they may already have solutions to their problem literally right under their noses. They just have not made the connections in their mind yet


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">D) Applying the article to class discussion post: **
 * 1) According to Bloch (2005), "... an understanding of relationships, subsuming structure and function, is a more fruitful path to understanding all complex entities.” (p. 195). Do you agree with this? Considering this in regards to computer networks, social media, school systems, and corporations.
 * 2) Consider point, pendulum, torus, and strange attractors and if any occurred in your personal life or career development. Do you think it takes personal insight or external factors to break free from these attractors?
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Consider sensitive dependence and examples in your own life. Do you think you can bring these about or do they happen by chance? Do you think you notice this as it is happening or it happens more times then you actually realize?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**E) REFERENCES**: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bloch, D. (2005). Complexity, Chaos, and Nonlinear Dynamics: A New Perspective on Career Development Theory. The Career Development Quarterly, 53, 194-207.

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5) Constructivist Counseling for Career Indecision (Savickas, 1995) =


 * A) SUMMARY:** Career counseling is a meaning making endeavor that allows the client to reflect on their situation, to view themselves from a different perspective, and to create a new narrative about themselves. This article includes finding life-themes, which include values and interests.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**B) OVERVIEW:**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Indecision as a Dichotomy
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Parson's encouraged counselors to place clients in one of two categories.
 * TF, practitioners classified clients as either decided or undecided (a dichotomy).
 * The ones that were undecided reflected immaturity, which then led the counselors to try to "cure" the underlying causes of career indecision
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Indecision as a Unidimensional Continuum
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This came about in the 1970's and Savickas stated, "many researchers stopped operationally defining indecision as a dichotomous state (i.e., undecided vs. decided) and began to view indecision as a unidimensional continuum that ranged from undecided to decided" (1995)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Indecision as a Multidimensional Concept
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At this stage, instead of considering the undecided as a homogeneous group, it is now including heterogeneous subgroups.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This perspective focuses on the person not the indecision itself.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Excludes the subjective experience of the client
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Indecision as a Subjective Experience (Constructivist Perspective)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Indecision is part of the normal experience that occurs when people are about to lose their place.
 * Indecision is a sign of "transformation in progress."
 * Movement takes place not straight ahead, but instead side to side
 * "Wavering" is movement toward meaning instead of toward a goal.
 * "Clients review their lives and focus awareness in an effort to grasp the theme; that is, to construct the whole that will clarify the parts"(Savickas,1995,p.4)
 * individuals purposively pause in their line of movement
 * this pause does not stop or stall movement (that would be depression)
 * This process of hesitation reveals more fundamental motives to guide a life story that is at a point of transformation
 * These things come into the present from the past (memories) and future (hopes/dreams)
 * "Connecting today's indecision to yesterday's experiences and tomorrow's possibilities makes meaning, allows comprehension, and creates new possibilities."
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The indecision may be the reason of adolescents and young adults not recognizing their life themes. Savickas states, "A client's indecision becomes an opportunity for making meaning of one's life when a counselor concentrates on how that career indecision fits into the pattern of larger meanings being lived by the client" (1995).
 * identity-formation process- the process of self-defintion
 * developmental process in which one goes from not knowing one's life theme to first knowing it and then being able to tell stories about it
 * **clarifying life themes enhances the ability of clients to decide and eases their forward movement into new constructions of experience**


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5 Step Life-Theme Counseling Model
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1) The counselor collect from the client stories that reveal the client's life theme
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2) Counselor narrates the theme to the client
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3) The client and counselor discuss the meaning of the current indecision by relating it to the life theme
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4) The client and counselor extend the theme into the future by naming interests and occupations that address the preoccupation and project that define the life theme
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5) The client and counselor rehearse the behavioral skills needed to specify and implement a career choice
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What types of stories
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">stories achieve meaning through individual differences
 * starts at the beginning of one's life--ask for stories about families who raised the client
 * keep alert for trouble, deviation, and imbalance
 * listen for the thematic problem
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">seek stories about client's projects in life
 * seek stories about identity
 * the clients telling how they are seeking to become more whole
 * how the client plots to change
 * **Identity narratives provide the goal of the story and explain how clients seek completion through closing the gap between what they have experienced and what they want**
 * tells counselors:
 * how clients make sense of their experiences
 * remember events leading to crystallization of self
 * rehearse ways of coping with life
 * seek stories about heroes/heroines
 * Conclusion
 * "When clients envision the future as a continuation of their stories, they can overcome their hesitation and author the next chapter"(Savickas,1995,p.9).
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">C) TERMS: **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Time Perspective - how individuals “view and orient themselves to time...time imagery related to achievement motivation” (Savickas, 1990, p. 5)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Future-oriented is the goal, rather than past-reflective. However, future-oriented usually comes with more anxiety of the what-ifs, etc.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Where you are pointing your flashlight?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Time Differentiation - the density and extension of events within time zones tends to define which time zone is more real for the client
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Interventions: “helping people create, articulate, and enact their dreams” (Savickas, p. 10)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How far the light beams point into the future. Counselor may need to orient the beams into the future.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Time Integration - the sense of connectedness among events across time zones
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Interventions: attention to planning attitudes, competencies, contingency planning, purposeful actions

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ADDITIONAL NOTES (from another wiki page):

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mark Savickas
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Believes that career development must have a future time orientation. People are more satisfied in their careers when the look ahead and anticipate what the future may hold.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Developed a career exploration course in an attempt to develop the following attitudes and concepts:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Become Involved Now
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Explore your future
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Choose based on how things look to you
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Control your future
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Work: Problem or Opportunity?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">View work positively
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Conceptualize Career choice
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Clear up Career Misconceptions
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Base choice on yourself
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Use 4 aspects of self as choice bases


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">D) Applying article to class discussion post: **
 * 1) Finding your own balance between objective observation and subjective experience in regards to career indecision considering the four steps outlined. Consider points of indecision in your personal life or of those you may know.
 * 2) Do you believe career decision is a sign of transformation of progress?
 * 3) Compare case study in article with other theorists learned about in the class. Consider major similarities/differences in regards to career counseling style. Compare it with your own personal style of career counseling.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Savickas, M. L. (1995). Constructivist counseling for career indecision. Career Development Quarterly, 43, 363-373.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">E) REFERENCE: **