Brief+Overview+of+the+Contextualist+Career+Development+Theory

** Young, Valach, & Collin’s Contextualist Career Development Theory (p. 103-104) **

 * Theory Category: **
 * Postmodern (Constructivist)


 * Brief Overview of Relevant Stages/Steps & Terms: **


 * __Actions__ Consist of Three Parts of Goal-Oriented Behaviors **:


 * 1) Observable **behavior**
 * 2) The internal processes that cannot be observed
 * 3) The meaning or results as interpreted by the individuals and others who observed the **action**

**Example:** A person may go to work and experience the job as boring and unworthy of her labor. The pay that she receives each week may be viewed by the individual as sufficient rationale for keeping the job. Her children and out-of-work spouse may judge her work as heroic activity.


 * To Comprehend the Meaning of an __Event__, One Must: **


 * 1) Begin with the ** event **
 * 2) Find out the affected individual’s view of the **event**, and
 * 3) Proceed from that point


 * 2 Levels of Interpretations: **


 * 1) Present **Context** — Built on a stream of actions
 * 2) Anticipated **Context** of the Future


 * Relevant Terms: **


 * 1) ** Joint actions ** —Occur between people; have personal and social meaning
 * 2) ** Joint goals ** —Formed during the process of joint actions
 * 3) **Contextualism**- The process of weaving parts of one's contexts (environments, reference groups, etc.) into the structure of the self
 * 4) **Causality**- The relationship between cause and effect, the principle that everything has a cause


 * Main Ideas: **
 * **People** can only be understood within the **context** of their **environment**
 * **Actions** by individuals are not due to past or present events
 * **Behaviors** associated with one’s career are **goal-directed** results of the individual’s **construction** of the **context** in which he/she functions
 * **Actions** associated with one’s career include a **goal-oriented** series of **behaviors** that are led by the individual and his/her **social context** at the same time
 * **Projects** can be long-term shared or individual actions
 * Once individuals are able to **construct** meaning between their **actions** and **projects**, they are able to engage in career endeavors
 * **Actions** take place in a series of sequential steps, which take place in a **social context**
 * **Interpretations** of **actions** and **projects** are affected by the **culture** and **gender** of the individual
 * Individuals create **narratives** (based on temporal interpretations of life events)
 * **Narratives** are **projected** unto future **context**

Goals of Career Counselors:

 * help the client develop an understanding of self in context through recursive questioning and interpretation of his or her narratives
 * assist clients to project their narratives, or life stories, into future contexts
 * making sense of the client's experiences via interpretation

**SAVIKAS' 5-STEP APPROACH TO CAREER COUNSELING** (Brown, 2016, p. 107-109)**:**
 * ** CONSTRUCTION: **finding out why client is there- story telling, finding themes of stories, helping client develop behavioral skills to help w/ future sessions
 * ** DECONSTRUCTION: **listening for and confronting emotions
 * ** RECONSTRUCTION: ** find career themes by listening for small common pieces of stories
 * ** COCONSTRUCTION: ** "...constructing and affirming the worldwide view of the client in her or his linespace" (Brown, 2016, p. 109)
 * ** ACTION: **action taking/ goal setting

**Applications (Brown, 2012, p. 67)**
 * Savickas (1995) suggests a 5 step approach beginning with evoking stories that allow the identification of themes.
 * Themes are frequently mentioned ideas about the nature of the career problem
 * Once the theme or themes are described, the counselor narrates or describes the theme to the client.
 * The client and the counselor then interpret the problem in the context of theme, edit or change the theme, and extend it into the future
 * The final step of the process is helping the client develop the behavioral skills needed to implement the future narrative theme that has been developed

Note: contextualist theories have attracted a great deal of attention and have generated a number of articles dealing with the career counseling process

Reference Brown, D. (2016). Career information, career counseling, and career development (10th ed.).New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.