Instructions: Conceptualize the assigned case through a career-counseling framew

Instructions:
Conceptualize the assigned case through a career-counseling framework of your choice (use Trait-Oriented Theories). Discuss your understanding of the identified client’s situation based on the theory you selected and share a brief plan for the client’s counseling treatment. Include any assessments that you would have the client take and justify its use. Your case conceptualization should explain in detail (1) your client’s demographics (i.e., race, gender, class, etc.), (2) the reason they are seeking career counseling (i.e., the client/student’s goals for career counseling, (3) an explanation of the challenges they are experiencing to their career development (both possible internal and external factors, e.g., lack of knowledge or skills, low self-efficacy, social barriers and oppression, etc.), and (4) how you would work with them using a specific counseling theory to reach their career goal; you may also use an integrated approach, but the integrity of each theory must be maintained, i.e., the theories should work together relatively seamlessly and not contradict or become confusing for the client. The explanation (4) of how you would continue to counsel this client should contain these components:
● What do you consider to be the major career problems for Pooja? Please provide an explanation of the client’s career issues from the perspective of your selected theory; that is, why are they having trouble with career? If you use an integrated approach (i.e., more than one theory) you will need to explain the problem from each theory’s perspective.
○ Example: The relational cultural assessment reveals how relational cultural experiences have contributed to Pooja’s striving to progress effectively in the career domain. Pooja stated that she is close to her parents, respects and values her relationship with them, and seeks support and guidance from them in many situations. Based on her cultural values and those of her family, she is likely to make decisions based on information and guidance from her primary support system, which consists of her parents and her older sister. Although Pooja receives some career information from her sister and her sister’s friends, her main sources of support and guidance are her parents. Her deference to the wishes of her parents, together with her desire to be a respectful and obedient daughter, may affect her career-related decisions. Her parents have a limited view of college majors and may provide her with information and support for options only in the fields of science and technology. However, Pooja seems uninterested in pursuing a career in STEM-related fields. Because of the limited choices provided and discussed by her parents, Pooja is likely to consider a constricted range of majors and possess limited information and knowledge about careers in her field of interest. In Indian culture, parental support and approval of a daughter’s aspirations and plans for a professional career are likely to contribute to girls’ positive self-image, self-confidence, and self-fulfillment (Maslak & Singhal, 2008). These factors could all be contributing to her decision-making difficulties.
● How does Pooja’s cultural background affect the client’s ability to engage in cultural assessment?
● Conceptualize the interrelationships of career and personal concerns.
● What is the significance of the following: “She would not like to disappoint her parents, and she indicated that it is important for her to be able to manage the demands of work and family both now and in the future. She wants to choose a major that will allow her flexibility and the opportunity to be creative”?
● What are your career counseling recommendations for Pooja, including the use of assessment instruments (again, from the theory’s perspective)?
○ Example: Relational cultural career assessment is based on the relational cultural paradigm for vocational psychology (Schultheiss, 2007). This paradigm emphasizes the significance of culture as a relational process; that is, relationships are thought to both represent and reproduce culture (Jordan & Walker, 2004). The essence of this paradigm suggests that the nexus of work, relationships, and culture provides a means of understanding and mattering to others. Mattering provides individuals with a sense of social meaning and relatedness, thereby contributing to a sense of belonging (Schultheiss, 2013a). Another essential component of this paradigm is that work is understood to include both paid and unpaid work. It includes caregiving, volunteer work, and other work that one does for others and for the community. The cultural aspects of relationships relate to the impact of race, class, and other identities and associated aspects of inequality and privilege (Collins, 1991; Crenshaw, 1994). These identities intersect and are viewed as social processes rather than being viewed primarily as characteristics of individuals. Intersectionality refers to the assertion that one cannot understand any one of these identities in isolation; they must instead be considered in combination (Cole, 2009).
○ Consistent with social constructionism (cf. Burr, 1995; Gergen, 1999), the focus of relational cultural career assessment is on social processes and on understanding that one’s worldview is continuously influenced by dynamic historical and cultural processes and practices. This approach is sensitive to the complexities of 21st-century work and the needs of people with diverse intersecting identities. This perspective assumes that what transpires in relationships is key to the facilitation or hindrance of career progress, competence and self-worth, and the experience of fulfilling and satisfying work lives (cf. Schultheiss, 2003, 2013a).
○ In relational cultural career assessment, practitioners inquire about clients’ self-understandings and identities that are socially constructed within relationships, as well as clients’ perceptions of how relational cultural experiences influence the career development and work domain. This is accomplished by asking open-ended questions and exploring recurring themes from therapeutic material. Relational cultural career narratives frequently concern themes such as belongingness; isolation and alienation at work; multiple intersecting life roles and identities; inclusive definitions of work; multidimensional aspects of social support (e.g., emotional, social, instrumental, tangible; Cutrona, 1996); and the consistency, availability, and reliability of others as a secure emotional base. The assessment relies on a semi structured interview that demands an active role for clients in a collaborative and cooperative process with the counselor. The goal is to work with clients’ self-perceptions and personal meanings to assist them in developing insight and navigating work and relational life. Counselors help clients learn how to make sense of life experiences and the role of various systems of influence that impact career development and work overtime, such as the family and other interpersonal relationships.
○ Drawing on the research of Kacar-Khamush (2015), counselors begin the semi structured interview by acknowledging that everyone has different aspects of themselves, or identities (e.g., gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation), that make them unique and that these identities are experienced in relationships in various ways with different people. Clients are then encouraged to talk about their relational cultural experiences associated with their intersecting identities and to explore how these experiences relate to their career development and work life. For example, counselors might ask, “As a South Asian woman, how have your experiences with others impacted your career development and decision-making process?” Client narratives are likely to reflect complex, ambiguous, dynamic, and contradicting relational cultural experiences across persons, contexts, and time. Counselors are urged to listen for themes associated with the relational cultural experiences that come to bear on career and work progress and outcomes. Previous research suggests that common themes may include privilege, success, pride, coping, and resiliency, as well as challenge, disadvantage, conflict, disruption, fear, uncertainty, unpredictability, oppression, and discrimination (Schultheiss, 2013b). An exploration of the degree to which the relational cultural career experience is characterized as a space of embeddedness and belonging or alienation and disconnection can be informative in formulating an understanding of the nexus of clients’ relational cultural experiences and work lives (cf.Blustein, Schultheiss, & Flum, 2004; Kacar-Khamush, 2012).
○ Clients are then guided to discuss how their relationships with important people in their lives have been influential in their career development and decision-making process and to assess their confidence and comfort level in relying on others for support, advice, or information. Through guided exploration, the range of influence is explored—from positive and facilitative relationships to those that are negative and reveal vulnerable shortcomings in the availability and accessibility of positive influences in the individual’s life (Schultheiss, 2003). Further drawing on the Relationships and Career Interview, clients are encouraged to discuss how they have made career decisions in the past, and they are asked to call to mind a specific difficult career decision. This process provides clients with the opportunity to closely evaluate their relational influences by focusing on a particularly challenging experience.
○ As a counselor operating from a RCT framework, there will be at least three to four sessions of 1 hour each minimum. The counselor will inquire about the client’s identities that are socially constructed within relationships. Pooja’s counselor will inquire about Pooja’s perceptions of how relational cultural experiences are influential in the career domain. The counselor will explore recurring themes in therapeutic material. Help Pooja learn the role of systems of influence (e.g., family) on career choices. Clarify how important people have been influential in Pooja’s career. Discuss past career decisions, including a difficult decision.
● In this section and throughout, the student is free to create a “story” in which the characters (you, the client/student, and whoever else is involved) talk and express their thoughts, i.e., put on your novelist hat and create a story with dialogue.
Please submit your findings in APA style, 7th edition to Watermark. In your paper, please include the following headings:
● Introduction to Client & Significant Others
● Presenting Concern(s)
● Baseline of Symptomatic Behavior
● Background Information
● Diversity
● Theoretical Integration:
In conclusion, your career case conceptualization should paint a complete picture of your client’s story and situation, why they are experiencing issues with their career from your selected theory’s perspective, and how you would apply that theory to assist them. In the theoretical integration section, please address the questions in a narrative format. Please include references.
(100 points)
Appendix A:
Case Study: The Case of an Indian Immigrant First-Year College Student
By: Sneha Peter and Donna Schultheiss
Pooja is a 19-year-old, single woman whose family immigrated from India to the United States when she was 12 years old. She is a freshman at a large public urban university and has made an appointment at the university counseling center to seek help with the transition from high school to college, with deciding on a college major, and with family distress due to her career concerns. She has specifically indicated that she needs help in choosing a major that aligns with both her interests and those of her family. Her family values higher education and would like Pooja to pursue a degree in a field that is both practical and marketable, such as engineering, business, medicine, or teaching. Her good grades in high school and college suggest that she is a hardworking student who enjoys learning. Because family contact and connection is important for Pooja, she chose to attend a university close to home so that she could live with her parents and her 27-year-old sister, Shruti.
During her first counseling session, Pooja reported that she likes to read English literature and has earned many awards for her writing in both high school and college. The academic advisor recognized her interests and abilities in writing and encouraged her to write a monthly column for the college newspaper. Pooja has written articles on several topics, including religion, multicultural issues, college stressors, and the transition from college to working life. In session, she reported that her older sister often provides her with career-related information and emotional support with issues concerning interpersonal relationships, college stress, and acculturation. Her older sister earned a master’s degree in business administration from the same urban university that Pooja attends, and her sister now works in a marketing firm at a job that she enjoys. Pooja often talks with her sister about possible college majors and future job opportunities. She enjoys discussing her personal experiences with her sister and her sister’s friends because it has helped her to improve her self-confidence and her acculturation to the United States. Pooja has mentioned that she ultimately wants to be productive like her sister and to have a job that she enjoys.
In India, Pooja’s mother earned a bachelor’s degree in banking and finance and was employed as an assistant bank manager. When Pooja was 12 years old, Pooja’s mother supported her husband’s decision to move the family to the United States for better work opportunities. For the past 7 years, she has raised her two daughters and not worked outside of the home. Pooja’s father earned a master’s degree in software engineering in India, and he now works as a software engineer in the United States. He is the sole wage earner for the family and makes all major decisions in the home, such as those concerning finances, his daughters’ education, and implementation of family values and discipline.
Pooja disclosed that her parents value education and have always emphasized the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields as career options for both Pooja and Shruti. Although she does not have a strong interest in the STEM fields and would like to explore other options, she does not want to upset her parents and would like to make a decision that is acceptable to all. Pooja talked about her cultural values and those of her family. Although she has some extended family in the United States, most of her relatives live in India. She reported that she comes from a very close-knit family, values her Indian heritage, and makes decisions that are strongly driven by family approval and support. She would not like to disappoint her parents, and she indicated that it is important for her to be able to manage the demands of work and family both now and in the future. She wants to choose a major that will allow her flexibility and the opportunity to be creative.