The Career Counseling Case Study Project

Taneka, a 17-year-old African American female, is a high school junior. She is the oldest of three siblings living with her single-parent mother. Her mother has worked for the past 15 years at a manufacturing plant. Her father has not been a part of Taneka’s life.

 

As the oldest child, Taneka has held major re

Career Counseling Theory and Relationship Strategies

Janine Vereen

COUN5279 – Life Plng & Career Development

January 31, 2016

Professor Fred Wilson

Abstract

The case study chosen is a Taneka, a 17-year-old African American female. She is a high school junior the oldest of three siblings living with her single-parent mother. As the oldest child, Taneka has held major responsibilities throughout her life to support her working mother, such as carrying for her younger siblings, Derrick, now age 14, and Kenya, age 12. Krumboltz Learning Theory of Careers Choice and Counseling (LTCC) would be the best approach for Taneka, since her environmental conditions is interfering with her ability to make a career decision without abandoning her mother and siblings.

The Learning Theory of Career Choice and Counseling (LTCC) was developed by John D. Krumboltz. Career decisions are the product of countless numbers of learning experiences made possible by encounters with the people, institutions and events in a person’s particular environment. People choose their careers based on what they have learned. Krumboltz proposed that there are four main factors that influence career choice, which are genetic influences, environmental conditions and events, learning experiences and task approach skills (e.g., self-observation, goal setting and information seeking) (Mitchell & Krumbolt, 1996). The consequences of these factors and most particularly learning experiences lead people to develop beliefs about the nature of careers and their role in life (self-observational generalizations). These beliefs, whether realistic or not, influence career choices and work related behavior.

Unit 3 – Career Counseling Theory and Relationship Strategies

Career counseling has been regarded as a personal emotional type counseling ( Osipow & Walsh 1990). However, clients attempting to choose careers need more than solutions to their emotional problems. Counselors must be prepared to choose for a client, who is considering a career choice intervention that is appropriate. Taneka needs a career counselor who will be supportive. Supportive therapy helps the client to deal with his or her problem, and provides the client with an understanding and accepting counselor.

The Learning Theory of Career Choice and Counseling helps the client by identifying the origin of his career choices and assist with creating a guide to challenge career related problems. The counselor starts with understanding how a client came to their career related view of themselves and the world and what is limiting or problematic about this view. Once this has been established, the counselor and client can identify what career relevant learning experiences, modeling or skill building will help them redirect their view (Mitchell & Krumbolt, 1996).

The basic tenets of LTCC involve cooperation between client and counselor. They include: (1) Clients need to expand their capabilities and interests with the help of the counselor to explore new activities (2) Clients need to prepare for changing work tasks and, with the counselor help, learn to cope with the stress of learning new skills throughout their careers (3) Clients need to be set free from fear and set free to courageously take responsibility for directing their own career path and making tough career decisions, and (4) Though the counselor is crucial in helping clients attain the first three tenets, the counselor is most needed to provide ongoing counseling where career and personal counseling is blended to help the client deal with all career related concerns including “burnout, underemployment, relationships with co-workers” (Niles & Harris-Bowlesby, 2009) and any other life issues.

Career counselors need to use assessment results of abilities, interest, viewpoint, principles and personality types to search for potential areas for development and to create additional learning experiences (Bimrose, 2004). The intended goal for the career practitioner is to help their clients “to create satisfying lives for themselves” (Niles & Harris-Bowlesby, 2009, p. 79) both now and for the future (Feller, Honaker, Zagzebski, 2001). Krumboltz stated that the way a person thinks ultimately controls his or her actions, including career choices. If a person is unsure on what path they want to take, then it could possibly lead them in the wrong direction. (Krumboltz, 1994).

References

Archer, J, McCarthy, C. 1. (2007). Theories of counseling and psychotherapy. Upper Saddle

River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Kirschenbaum, H., & Jourdan, A. (2005). The current status of Carl Rogers and the person­

centered approach. Psychotherapy:Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 42(1), 37-51 .

Bimrose, J. (2004, August 29). Learning theory of careers choice & counselling. NGRF –

National Guidance Research Forum. Retrieved January 31, 2016 from

http://www.guidance-research.org/EG/impprac/ImpP2/traditional/learning-theory/

Feller, R. W., Honaker, S. L., & Zagzebski, L. M. (2001). Theoretical voices directing the career

development journey: Holland, Harris-Bowlsbey, and Krumboltz. Career Development

Quarterly, 49(3), 212-24. Retrieved January 31, 2016 from EBSCOhost.

Krumboltz, J. D. (March 01, 1994). The career beliefs inventory. Journal of Counseling &

Development, 72(4), 424-28. Retrieved January 31, 2016 from EBSCOhost.

Niles, S. G., & Harris-Bowlsbey, J. A. (2009). Career development interventions in the 21st

century. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Merrill/Pearson.

Osipow, S. H., & Walsh, W. B. ( 1990). Career counseling: Contempora1y topics in vocational

psychology.Lawrence Erlbaum Association. Broadwa y Hillsdale, H. J.

Mitchell, L.K. & Krumbolt, J.D. (1996) Krumboltz’s Learning Theory of Career Choice and

Counseling in Brown, D., Brooks, L. & Associates (eds) (3rd edition) Career Choice and

Development San Francisco, California: Jossey Bass

sponsibilities throughout her life to support her working mother, such as carrying for her younger siblings, Derrick, now age 14, and Kenya, age 12. These early duties reinforced development of her natural leadership skills. Taneka has been recognized from an early age for being mature, responsible, and dependable. As her siblings have grown, she has been able to have part-time jobs, most recently as a salesperson at a teen fashion store in the local mall. It was here that she first realized she had a knack for dealing with people, and they responded well to her—employers, co-workers, and customers alike. She was recently approached by her supervisor to consider participating in the company’s employee leadership training program.

 

This has started Taneka to think about post-secondary education possibilities. Previously she had thought college was out of her reach, due to the limited financial resources of her family and no history of anyone in her family ever attending college. As such, she had not previously given much importance to her grades. Rather than participating in extracurricular school activities, she focused on working. She s on track for graduating with her class next year and has a current grade point average of 2.05.

Taneka is now questioning her previous assumption about college or other post-secondary educational possibilities, but she does not have a clear idea of what she would like to pursue as a career. Choosing a career and a post-secondary program to prepare for it, seeking financial support, and navigating the admissions procedure all remain mysteries to her. When her school counselor invites her in for her junior-year session to plan for life after high school, Taneka starts to open up about this and seeks help to start the process of planning for the rest of her life.

 

The Career Counseling Case Study Project provides the opportunity to demonstrate your critical

understanding of how career counseling is applied by providing a synthesis and evaluation of career counseling and consultation when working with clients. You will use a case study scenario as the basis of your project paper.

 

Please be aware that this project is designed to assist in your acquisition of career theory knowledge and therefore, you must apply the concepts that have been taught in this course. In other words, apply concepts unique to career counseling and not for other counseling disciplines such as marriage and family or school counseling.

 

To assist you in developing a complete case study, the course project includes three components:

In the Career Counseling Theory and Relationship Strategies assignment, you will focus on counseling theory and relationship strategies relevant to your selected case. Specific information regarding instructions for this assignment are located in Unit 3.

In the Diversity Issues in Career Counseling assignment, you will analyze the impact of diversity issues on career counseling. Specific information regarding instructions for this assignment are located in Unit 6.

In your final project assignment, Career Counseling Case Study, you will compile the previous assignments as well as add sections relevant to legal and ethical issues, assessment tools, and the impact of crises, emergencies, and disasters.

 

To successfully complete this project, you will be expected to:

1.       Apply relevant theory and research to career counseling practice.

2.       Explain strategies for establishing and maintaining effective relationships.

3.       Articulate how biases and assumptions can impact the career development process.

4.       Analyze legal and ethical issues related to the career development process.

5.       Write effectively in issues related to career counseling and consultation.

6.       Analyze the impact of crises, emergencies, and disasters on a person’s career planning and development.

 

To achieve a successful project experience and outcome, you are expected to meet the following requirements.

Your final project assignment should address the following topics. Please note that the number of pages per topic is provided as a guideline and is not a requirement.

 

1.       Theory and Relationship Strategies – Include the information from your Career Counseling Theory and Relationship Strategies assignment to meet the expectations for these topics. Be sure to integrate any feedback you received from your instructor to ensure you meet the grading criteria. While you may use sections of your original paper as it is, be sure to integrate this to create a cohesive assignment. In other words, be sure the section flows with the rest of your paper. (2–3 pages)

 

2.       Diversity Issues – Include the information from your Diversity Issues in Career Counseling assignment to meet the expectations for these topics. Be sure to integrate any feedback you received from your instructor to ensure you meet the grading criteria. While you may use sections of your original paper as it is, be sure to integrate this to create a cohesive assignment. In other words, be sure the section flows with the rest of your paper. (1–2 pages)

 

3.       Legal and Ethical Issues – Interpret and evaluate at least two ethical codes or standards that could be considered for this case. You need to cite which codes you are referencing and which organization it comes from. Appropriate resources include: NCDA, ACA, NBCC, AAMFT, ASCA, AMHCA, NAADAC, and so on (1 page). Be sure to access the most current code of ethics for the each organization.

 

4.       Career Counseling Approach – Appraise your understanding and application of the three steps towards career identification. These include self-awareness, identifying skills, and prioritization. Choose ways in which you can apply this knowledge to this case scenario. You may use the Career Diamond as a guide. (1–2 pages)

 

5.       Assessment Tools – Propose the appropriate selection of an assessment tool for your client. Examples may include card-sort, O*NET, or a Self-Directed Search (SDS). You may create this segment of your project in any way that meets the criteria stated in the rubrics. For example, you can state why you would suggest taking the SDS and then pretend to go through some of the more interesting results. This should demonstrate the skills of interpretation and relationship building with your client. You do not have to go through an entire assessment; just demonstrate that you can select an appropriate assessment tool. (1 page)

 

6.       Impact of Crises, Emergencies, and Disasters – Choose one area that may be affecting your client and address this consideration. You can create either a crises, emergency, or disaster. Examples may include job loss, family illness, or a neighboring earthquake. (1 page)

 

7.       Conclusion – Conclude your project with a summary of career counseling and how it can be beneficial to this client. (1 page)

 

8.       General Project Requirements:

 

9.       Written communication: Written communication must be free of errors that detract from the overall message.

 

10.   APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to APA (6th Edition) Style and Formatting.

 

11.   Number of resources: Minimum of 6 resources.

 

12.   Length of paper: 8–10 typed, double-spaced pages.

 

 

13.   Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.