Last time I left you with a quick sketch of Adlerian counseling and suggested using the theory in career counseling. In this blog I will outline an example to better communicate these ideas. Now, on to Alan! Alan, is not a real client, but represents an amalgamation of a few clients that I worked [...]

When I speak of using Adlerian concepts in career counseling I tend to get very strange looks even from the Adlerian counselors. I just smile and yes, you heard me correctly! Adler did talk about work as one of the 3 life tasks and he recognized that work has a central social role for adults. [...]

This blog will have a more personal tone than some of my earlier ones. I believe it is typical of counselors to process our experiences in several of our life roles, and I will process my recent experience in my life role as a son and counselor. Over the holidays, like many people, I planned [...]

Research indicates that children develop ideas about career much earlier than was previously thought (Hartung, Profeli, & Vondracek, 2005). According to Gottfredson (2002), children become aware of power in relationships and occupations at age 3 to 5 years. At 6 to 8 years old, children begin to identify gender with occupations and begin to associate [...]

In working with people from different employment backgrounds, the topic of meaninglessness in work inevitably enters into the discussion. I have heard clients utter statements concerning meaninglessness numerous times in counseling sessions and have even uttered this myself on occasion. However, this is not to say that such statements should be taken lightly or without [...]

Too many times I have limited my thinking of the use of technology in career counseling to the administration of assessments, job search services, and career research strategies. Recently, I was confronted with a much more difficult case and was able to bridge a cultural gap by using several tools available on the internet during [...]

Okay, every adult had a childhood and in that childhood we used to play. Many of those play themes had to do with work. Specifically, I played with cars under a large tree in our backyard. Much of the play themes centered on me traveling from house to house visiting people and building lakes and [...]

By now, if you have been keeping up with my blogs, you realize that I focus much of my work into career counseling. But, as I have argued in the past, I advocate for no division between mental health and career counseling. Given this position, it would follow that I would write a blog [...]