Assignment 1

EDUC 7051/Assignment 1
Uvarajan Ganesbaran/43821873
TASK 1
Personal Reflection Activity
Life has never been a bed of roses especially when one is forced to make huge decisions at many
instances of life. I completed my degree in Information Technology and landed myself with
handsome job afterwards. Unfortunately, working as a Software Engineer did not favor me much
so I shifted myself to consultancy as I am a very people-centric person. I enjoyed the job as a
Project Management Consultant, however, my responsibility as a Trainer changed the way I view
my future. I quit my job and joined a private school as a teacher with an uncompetitive salary. It
was challenging in the beginning but the job gave me more satisfaction than anything else. It
made me realise my ability and capacity as a teacher material. During this time, I was exposed to
school counselling and I remember counselled few students in determining their career path after
post high school. Nevertheless, I had no chance to learn and acquire more knowledge in the field
of career counselling. In 2015, I realised my learning curve is flattening, thus I decided to invest
into further studies and ended up at The University of Queensland. My first semester was rather
challenging as I was trying to adapt and settling down, but second semester seems to be better
and I am glad that I am taking EDUC 7051, to understand the foundation of career counselling in
a very structured and formal way.
Career counselling, in my point of view is all about enabling and helping the clients in making
wise choices of their careers and lives. It is a one to one interaction between the client and the
counsellor through the various use of theory and communication skills. Since I have some prior
experience in the kind of issues surrounding the clients who are mainly students, coupled with
my people oriented skills, I believe, career counselling would be the area worth exploring for my
future career.
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EDUC 7051 has made me to comprehend that as a career counsellor, I dont make the decision
for my clients but I help them to improve their career maturity and career efficacy to enable them
make the choice for themselves that will bring fulfillment. I am in the position to guide my client
to promote career adaptability, career resiliency and self confidence in handling career transitions
or unemployment. As a career counsellor, I will apply the theories and approaches I have learned
in my daily work. These theories offer tested approaches that serve as a framework to guide the
interventions with my clients and empower the clients to solve their career related issues. I am
also learning that each client is unique and the knowledge of many theories and approaches will
help in identifying and applying the best ones for my clients to decide and develop their career,
personal growth and improve career adaptability. The narrative approach in career counselling
which was built on constructivist theories will prove to be my guiding principles in developing
my very own career path as a career counsellor while helping my clients to realise their ability
and strength for a better career and future lives. The use of dialogue in a narrative approach
enable me as the counsellor to uncover the underlying meaning of the clients themes and patterns
of life and forge a connections between the events through the stories narrated by my clients.
Constructing and reconstructing these stories enable me to deeper into my clients lives and
provide better understanding of their needs and then to further facilitate their needs and alleviate
their career aspirations and fulfillments.
TASK 2
Introduction
The twenty first century has inspired a major shift in career counselling perspectives. The theory
and practice of career counselling which was based on the logical positivism is slowly shifting
towards Narrative Approach, a more person-environment fit (Patton & McMahon, 1999). While
the positivism approach offers the information for matching the individual to a job (Brown,
2002) and very much counselor directed, the narrative approach which is based on subjectivism
(Collin, 1996 and Savickas, 1993) offers the information of the clients various life experiences
and of which the entire counselling strategies are based on constructivist strategies (Brott, 2001).
This strategy focuses on exploring the clients world through a narration of clients past, present
and future life experiences. This is known as a PostModern Approach in career counselling. The
aim of this literature review is to describe the underlying philosophy that underpins narrative
career counselling and the constructs that are central to this approach to career counselling.
Subsequently, the review also compares and contrast two approaches to narrative counselling,
namely the Storied Approach and SocioDynamic approach. The review ends with advantages and
disadvantages of narrative career counselling.
Narrative Career Counselling
Career counselling traditionally was focusing on matching a job with a client and the entire
process was counsellor or practitioner directed and functions as a problem solving and pays less
attention on the clients interaction and predominantly focuses on matching people with jobs
(Brown, 2002) by objectively observing and diagnosing an individual without much
considerations on the aspects of clients interests, abilities and knowledge about the job
(Savickas, 2009). This traditional approach is known as person-environment matching models
(Holland, 1997; Patton & McMahon, 1999). Savickas (1993, 2005, & 2009) argued that the
traditional approach is no longer reflects any accuracy of socially constructed realities practiced
by the post-modern paradigms thus, narrative approach was developed by career counsellors and
vocational psychologists to help individuals to articulate themselves in a storied form, which
would enable the career counselors to construct the possible career interventions by holistically
addressing the way how the individuals construct their careers.
Cochran (1997) described that narrative career counselling is a process comprises a series of
stages utilized to actualize the clients narration of his/her life story. Amundson (1998)
introduced a model of active engagement that travels through set of tasks used as a qualitative
career assessment instruments to internalize the clients career problems. Moving forward,
Savickas (1998, 2009) came out with a narrative career counselling model based on interviews
that aims to uncover the life themes that serve as a foundation for the construction of future story.
While Young (2011), emerged with an evidence base approach constructed on action theory and
goal-directed intentional behaviour. In the same year, Pryor and Bright applied chaos theory to
career development while McMahon and Watson (2010) founded Story Telling Approach on
systems theory.
A narrative approach re-conceptualizes individuals as storied (Savickas, 2005) and embraces the
individuals needs, abilities, interests and values arise (Del Corso & Rehfuss, 2011) and find
meaning through social experiences. According to Bujold (2004), individuals narrate their
subjective perception of themselves by utilizing their own language and moreover, their own
meaning system in the worldly context. According to Brott (2001), in a typical narrative career
counseling, the client and the counselor are actively engaged in a collaborative process of verbal
dialogue. The clients are encouraged to narrate their story that reveals their past experiences that
influences their present actions and future decisions. This is established through an interactive
session between the client and the counselor, in a facilitated environment. The underlying
principle of narrative approach is that people and their environment are inseparable. The use of
language and dialogue are fundamental in constructing meaning and knowledge of their own
experience as their life story. Patton & McMahon (2006), have clearly described Systems Theory
Framework as the theoretical foundation of Narrative Approach and this is further discussed in
the next session. Brott (2001), Bujold (2004) and Savickas (2009) have collectively agreed that
narrative approach in career counselling is the key to help individuals achieve their career
aspirations.
Constructs of Narrative Career Counselling
In narrative career counselling, the theoretical foundation is the Systems Theory Framework
(STF) founded by McMahon & Patton in 1995 and further enhanced in 2006 and the application
of its core constructs serves as the central of narrative approach (McMahon & Watson, 2010).
There are three systems of influence that underpin the narrative approach, individual system, the
social system and the environmental-societal system. These influences are viewed as dynamics
as all the influences are connected to each other and these influences form the many different
human contexts and consequently form the human belief systems. These human belief systems
are formed on the basis of recursive process (the interaction between the influences) consists of
connectedness, reflection, meaning making, learning and agency (McMahon, 2005) which are
also the central constructs of Narrative and Constructivist Approach in Career Counselling.
Connectedness
Connectedness is a multidimensional construct that operates within intrapersonal and
interpersonal levels (Townsend & McWhirter, 2005; cited from McMahon et al, 2012 ). It is
described as the affiliation of few domains such family, community and spiritual beliefs and that
hugely influences the individuals identity construction and their systemic thinking (McMahon,
2007). Connectedness provide the in-depth understanding of the client from diverse contexts of
life experiences and how the individual is connected to the world around and how this
connectedness have influenced his/her way of thinking and perceiving the future. Connectedness
also reveals the significant others who influences the career decisions.
Reflection
Reflection in narrative approach unfolds the strengths and weaknesses of clients based on their
stories of past experiences. Reflection helps the clients identify their past accomplishments and
failures and their resilience and determination. Reflection helps the client to construct future
stories.
Meaning Making
It is a subjective process of making sense of their past experience by deeply understanding the
action and context. Life themes and patterns in life stories are established through meaning
making. This helps the individual to interpret how their past experience have impacted their
present and how will it shape their future. Among the key elements of meaning making are
awareness, insight, sense making and understanding. This process helps the client to connect
between different contexts and assist in identifying themes and patterns.
Learning
This is a cyclic action (Hawkins & Shohet, 2000; cited from McMahon et al, 2012). Learning is
also seen as the outcome of process constructs in which client may need to unlearn or re-learn as
to transform and create new knowledge. This process assist the client to construct future stories.
Agency
According to Young & Domene (2011), agency is defined as the capacity of an individual to
decide on their own through a combination of intention and action. The purpose of this process is
to enable the clients to take ownership of their career aspirations and undertake the steps required
to move forward.
Storied Approach vs Socio Dynamic Approach
SocioDynamic approach in career counselling is similar to Storied Approach in which the client
is the central focus and information is gathered through engaging the client and counselors in a
linguistic environment. Both Storied Approach and SocioDynamic approach are built on
subjectivism perspectives and constructivist perspectives, far away from positivist perspectives.
Both the approaches use language for interaction and information gathering and meaning
making. Metaphors, questioning, clarification are among the various techniques used in both
approaches to move the clients towards constructing their career paths. Both the approaches are
built on the principle of reflective dialogical feedback processes through active participation and
engagement between the client and counselor.
In terms of differences between the two approaches, SocioDynamic approach is a self-creating

model while storied approach is an intervention model. Cultural context is a predominant context
in SocioDynamic approach while storied approach consider culture as one of the context that
constructs the approach, not predominantly. SocioDynamic approach uses dialogical listening as
its main constructs but Storied Approach uses reflection, connectedness, learning, meaning
making and agency as its constructs. In SocioDynamic approach, both client and counselor are
considered as experts unlike Storied Approach. In SocioDynamic approach, client is known as

help seeker while counselor is known as helper.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Narrative approach

Narrative approach in career counselling is a strategy for the new millennium. Life roles and
experiences are explored as stories through a collaborative dialogue between clients and
counselors. The process of co-construction, deconstruction and construction of the stories shared
by the clients are used as the basis to construct new stories for the future. Understanding the
rationale that underpins the individual construction of career from a narrative perspective, would
provide career counselors the knowledge of holistic approach to help the client undergo career
transition and transformation. Narrative approach also allows the counselors to assess how the
clients personality reflects their ability on career adaptations as well as choices of interests and
needs in their lifetime. The process of uncovering the life themes serve as a biggest advantage of
Narrative approach as it helps the counselor to construct interventions. The many strategies and
techniques available in narrative approach helps the counselors to empower the clients and give
them the ownership of their own career choice and attainment.
Since the approach is still in its inception phase, new and existing counselors need to be trained
well before they use and implement the approach (Maree & Molepo, 2006). There are not many
evidence base practice of this approach, thus more research has to be done in the field to provide
more evidence base practices to be used as references as the lack of information on practice may
contribute to the disadvantages of the approach. Furthermore, the research samples used are
limited to adolescents and high schools students and none for other group of people such adults,
or people with disabilities (Brott, 2001).
References
Patton, W., & McMahon, M. (1999). Career development and systems theory: A new
relationship. Thomson Brooks/Cole Publishing Co.
Brown, D. (Ed.). (2002). Career choice and development. John Wiley & Sons.
Collin, A. (1996). New relationships between researchers, theorists and practitioners. Handbook
of career counseling theory and practice, 377-399.
Savickas, M. L. (1993). Career counseling in the postmodern era. Journal of Cognitive
Psychotherapy, 7(3), 205-215.
Savickas, M. L. (1995). Constructivist counseling for career indecision. The Career
Development Quarterly, 43(4), 363-373.
Savickas, M. L. (1997). The spirit in career counseling: Fostering self-completion through work.
Connections between spirit and work in career development: New approaches and practical
perspectives, 3-25.
Savickas, M. L. (2001). Toward a comprehensive theory of career development: Dispositions,
concerns, and narratives. Contemporary models in vocational psychology: A volume in honor of
Samuel H. Osipow, 295-320.
Savickas, M. L. (2005). The theory and practice of career construction. Career development and
counseling: Putting theory and research to work, 1, 42-70.
Savickas, M. L., Nota, L., Rossier, J., Dauwalder, J. P., Duarte, M. E., Guichard, J., ... & Van
Vianen, A. E. (2009). Life designing: A paradigm for career construction in the 21st century.
Journal of vocational behavior, 75(3), 239-250.
Holland, J. L. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work
environments . Psychological Assessment Resources.
Brott, P. E. (2001). The storied approach: A postmodern perspective for career counseling. The
Career Development Quarterly, 49(4), 304-313.
Semmler, P. L., & Williams, C. B. (2000). Narrative therapy: A storied context for multicultural
counseling. Journal of multicultural counseling and development, 28(1), 51.
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Del Corso, J., & Rehfuss, M. C. (2011). The role of narrative in career construction theory.
Journal of Vocational Behavior, 79(2), 334-339.
Bujold, C. (2004). Constructing career through narrative. Journal of vocational behavior, 64(3),
470-484.
Brott, P. E. (2001). The storied approach: A postmodern perspective for career counseling. The
Career Development Quarterly, 49(4), 304-313.
McMahon, M., Watson, M., Chetty, C., & Hoelson, C. N. (2012). Examining process constructs
of narrative career counselling: An exploratory case study. British Journal of Guidance &
Counselling, 40(2), 127-141.
Young, R. A., & Domene, J. F. (2011). The construction of agency in career counselling. Career
counselling and constructivism: Elaboration of constructs, 25-38.
McMahon, M., & Watson, M. (2011). Career counseling and constructivism: Elaboration of
constructs. Nova Science Publisher.
Cochran, L. (1997). Career counseling: A narrative approach. Sage Publications.
Amundson, N. E. (2003). Active engagement: Enhancing the career counselling process. Ergon
Communications.
Maree, K., & Molepo, M. (2006). The use of narratives in cross-cultural career counselling.
Career counselling: Constructivist approaches, 69-81.
Maree, K. (Ed.). (2011). Shaping the story: A guide to facilitating narrative career counselling.
Sense Publishers.
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TASK 3
a)
What did the career counsellor do that created a mattering climate in the interview?
Explain what you understand by the term mattering climate.
To my understanding, mattering climate is a process of creating an environment in which the

client feels that his/her feel is valued, cred about and appreciated and that whatever issue their
bringing forward really matters and due consideration is given to each one of it without biasness.
I also believe, mattering climate is really important as in enables the client to be more
comfortable and feel acknowledged and respected, both in physical environment and
interpersonal dynamics. This is essential as this will then allow the counselor to guide and direct
the client towards resolving the issues and achieve a clearer mind in making the wisest career
choice.
a.
Identify and transcribe an example from each of the beginning, middle and end
sections of the interview where you believe the career counsellor was constructing a
mattering climate. Explain why you selected each example and what the career counsellor
did to create such a climate.
Beginning - Expansion
The counselor welcomed the client and walked her through the entire process. These process
made the client more comfortable and able to set an expectation of the session. The counselor
allowed the client to tell and share her issues while listening actively and responding to the
clients story. The counselor did not interrupt the client and allowed her to take her time and
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pace. The counselor directed the client towards the center of the issue by expressing his empathy.
The one to one session made the client felt more respected and the when the counselor listened to
the client without interrupting her made the client felt more acknowledged. The structured
exploration activity offered by the counselor made the client more comfortable and focused. The
counselor used THE WHEEL to explore the clients past experience. Here the client realised that
she lacked proper structure as she was bombarded with too many information prior to the
session. Once the counselor identified a pace and assessed the clients readiness, he slowly
moved forward to pattern identification process without rushing the client. This made the client
more comfortable and prepared. The transitioning from one activity to another was smoothly
done without disturbing the clients pace. The counselor too, clarified the need to focus on one
interest of the past using the clients language mainly to scrutiny past accomplishment. Client
realised her achievements in the past and the positive traits she possessed. These has made the
client more connected to the counselor.
Middle -Contraction
The counselor summarizes the clients story and identified her strengths and weaknesses through
paraphrasing and empathy. These helped to create the mattering climate. The counselor too
showed a direction of the clients career through past experience and this made the client
comfortable. The mapping themes activity helped the client to recognize the uncertainties
associated with career choice and pointed out the key elements of focus.
End- Expansion of perspectives
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The counselor used positive tones and action verbs while focusing on the specific details
necessary to facilitate the client in identifying strengths and weaknesses, passions and setbacks
that could significantly influence the career decisions. The counselor directed the client by
affirming the clients options and offer valuable information on career choices. The counselor
summarized the clients story to move the client towards action plan. Here, the counselor
discussed the available future options of career and the possible skills attainment to ascertain the
career decision. The client realised the exact issues and made a commitment to resolve them
accordingly while acquiring necessary skills to alleviate the chances of being employed in the
clients desired area/field. Mattering climate was also established when the counselor offered for
a follow up session over extended period of time.
b.
What evidence can you find in the interview that the career counsellor was successful
in creating a mattering climate. Include examples of the evidence in your response and
explain your selection.
The counselor made the client so comfortable that the client was able to narrate her past
experience precisely and comprehensively. The meaningful questions in between the story
narration helped the client to expand and proper paraphrasing enabled the counselor to set a
focus area. The client felt valued and acknowledged when the counselor actively listened to her
story while jotting down the important ideas on the board. Pattern exploration activity made the
client realise of her strengths and abilities that ultimately influence her career choices. These
discover made the client feel more appreciated and alleviated. The client got engaged and
participated actively as the counselor affirmed her strengths and made her realise her flaws. The
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counselor assisted and directed the client without putting any words in the clients mouth and this
has certainly made the client feel more empowered.
c.
What are the personal qualities that you have that will assist you in creating a
mattering climate? What strategies will you use to create a mattering climate in your
future career counselling?
I can personally empathize on peoples condition and the certain situation they are in. I have eye
for detail which will enable me to extract the need information from a clients narration of their
experience and problem statements. I am an active listener, so I will definitely instill a sense of
being acknowledged when I listen and pay attention to their stories. If in case the client is
hesitant to share his/her story, with my good communication skill, I would find a common
ground to initiate a conversation and slowly directing it towards the focus of the session. I am
good at paraphrasing and summarizing so I will be able to summarize the clients story and add
clarity to their story without interrupting the plot. I am also good at questioning to extract the
essential information required. All these skills will greatly help to create a healthy relationship
with my client in the future. I will also use positive affirmation and externalize the problems to
enable me to expand and contract the clients story. I will also use some of the strategies such
THE WHEEL, pattern recognizing activities, and assess the readiness of the client before I move
forward in the session. I will also follow up with my client after session to assess the
effectiveness the session and to offer further help if needed.
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b)
Consider the constructs of reflection, connectedness, meaning making, learning and
agency.
a.
Identify three (3) examples of how the client demonstrated each of these constructs and
list them.
1. Reflection The client reflected on her past experience and the activities that she has
participated. These activities were used by the counselor to derive the themes and patterns of the
story and the client.
2. Connectedness The story told by the client has strong connection to the career decision she
is about to take. Her passion and interests are strongly linked to each other to form her career
options in the future. Her past employment and experiences gained have strong influence on her
future career options.
3. Learning Through the many activities, the clients was able to learn about her strengths and
weaknesses and prepared to construct an action plan to improve her credibility to have a better
career options in the future.
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b.
Identify examples of the counselling microskills (e.g., questions, reflections,
paraphrases) that the career counsellor used to elicit such client responses. List these
examples. Explain the reasons for your choices.
Paraphrasing
When discussing about the real issue, the client could not explain as English is not her First
Language, so the counselor paraphrased the clients statement.
Counselor: So, you are looking for a structure?

Client
: Exactly, I am looking for a structure as there are too many information.
Summarizing
The counselor summarized the entire story told the client by organizing and integrating the major
points made by the client. It is a form of transition to move from one phase to another without
the disrupting the flow of the session, especially at the end of Pattern Recognizing Exercise.
Information Giving
The counselor offered many valuable and meaningful information to the client on her choice of
career and suggested some of the ways for her to improve her qualification to secure a better
position that suits her passion, interest and future development.
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Linking
The counselor linked the clients interest with her past employment and connect the outcome to
her future career possibilities. The counselors made the client realise the similarities between the
three and how these components can influence her choice of career in the future.
c.
As you listen to the interview, use the Systems Theory Framework diagram found in
Module 2 on the Blackboard to map a 20 minute segment of the interview e.g., if the client
speaks about what they want to do draw a line numbered 1 from the individual to the
future. If the client then mentions their familys hope for them, draw a line numbered 2
from future to family. Continue this process through the interview. NB: Submit this
interview map with your portfolio.
Attached as Appendix 1
d.
What have you noticed about the interview map? Describe your observations of the
interview map.
The interview map shows the connection between the clients interpersonal traits and her choice
of career. The map also outlines the clients expectations of her career choice. The map also
shows the connectedness between the clientss past experience which has great influence to her
future decisions. The map serves as a reflections of the clients past and expectations of her
future.
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e.
On the basis of this map and your responses to the previous activities in this Task,
describe how you now understand the narrative career counselling process. How would you
describe the role of the career counsellor? How would you describe the role of the client?
How would you describe the career counselling relationship?
From my understanding, narrative career counselling fosters the client to narrate stories of their
past, present and future while the counselor elicits the issues. Clients are encouraged to speak out
or tell stories of their past experience, interests, passions, limitations, obstacles,
accomplishments, failures and expectations as to discover patterns or themes before drawing a
focus area. This activity is very crucial to set the clients in a pace and to facilitate smooth
transition from one phase to another without disrupting the flow of the session. Mattering
Climate is very important as it ensures a healthy relationship is established between the client
and counselor. This connectivity is crucial to ascertain that the client stay connected and engaged
throughout the session. Narrative career counselling also made me to realise that it is not the
career counselor who decides for the clients but the clients themselves. Career counselors are
supposed to empower the clients and make the clients more committed in whatever decisions
they are about to take. A career counselors primary responsibility is to lead and direct the clients
towards a clear consensus and guide them in making the wisest career decision based on their
skills, interest and available resources. A career counselor should also be very knowledgeable
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and receptive over the latest developments in the field and equip themselves with the knowledge
of various approaches as all clients are unique. As a client, the need to be more engaged and
believe in the counselor and cooperate as much as possible as the counselor will try to eliminate
the negative doubts and thoughts of the clients. Client should not have the expectation that the
session with a career counselor will solve their problems. Career counselling is meant to elicit
the real issue, assist in self-realization and offers the available options of career based on the
personal attributes of the clients. The relationship formed is personal as well professional
relationship. However, personal friendship kind of relationship is not encouraged. Clients who
feel empathized and cared may perceive it a little personal on their side, but as career counsellor,
this relationship should not go beyond the boundaries of professionalism. Career counselors
should emphasize on follow ups with their clients as a reflection on their own practice and offer
further assistance if it is required.
f.
Identify three key learnings that you have had about narrative career counselling that
you could use as advice to yourself or to another person. Explain why you think these
would be helpful to you or to another career counsellor.
Ultimately, I learned that the success of a counselling session is primarily depends on the wellestablishment of positive and well-defined relationship between the client and the counsellor.
Another key element is where the expectations and goals are clearly articulated. Finally, the
establishing of constructive mattering climate, in which a counselor needs to understand the
dynamics of the client reluctance and promote a positive climate by applying broader range of
various kinds of communication skills. Different approaches are required as it is impossible to
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please all the clients with one approach. Narrative career counselling offers many approaches
that can be practiced at many different instances.
Appendixes
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EDUC 7051/Assignment 1

Narrative Career Counselling

Constructs of Narrative Career Counselling

Storied Approach vs Socio Dynamic Approach

In terms of differences between the two approaches, SocioDynamic approach is a self-creating

considered as experts unlike Storied Approach. In SocioDynamic approach, client is known as

Advantages and Disadvantages of Narrative approach

Explain what you understand by the term mattering climate.

To my understanding, mattering climate is a process of creating an environment in which the

End- Expansion of perspectives

Consider the constructs of reflection, connectedness, meaning making, learning and

Identify examples of the counselling microskills (e.g., questions, reflections,

Counselor: So, you are looking for a structure?

: Exactly, I am looking for a structure as there are too many information.

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