Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Gender- and Family-Conscious Career Counseling


Gender- and Family-Conscious Career Counseling
Develop an answer to these questions based on the case studies
• Explain how you would work with Maria and Richard using one of the following holistic approaches: Self-Efficacy Beliefs, Learned Optimism, Planned Happenstance, or Positive Uncertainty.
• Analyze each case (Maria’s and Richard’s) in terms of the influence of gender and family life on their career decisions and development.
Case studies
CASE EXAMPLE 1: MARIA
Maria Rodriguez is a 24-year-old unmarried woman who lives at home with her parents and her two younger siblings. She seeks counseling because she wants to learn to be less self-critical and figure out “some goals in my life.” She works in a technical support staff position at a cellular communications company. She says she enjoys her work, but that she just took the first job she was offered after she graduated from a community college and has stayed there ever since. She would like to pursue a four-year degree but questions whether she would be able to succeed academically. When asked how she fared with her grades at the community college, she replies that she graduated with a 3.7 grade-point average but that a “real university would be much harder.” Besides, even if she could do well in her studies, she has no idea what major she would pursue or what career goal might suit her.Click Here To Get More On This Paper!!!!
Maria adds that it would be difficult for her to juggle the demands of her job, college studies, and her household responsibilities. Her youngest brother, age 16, has cystic fibrosis and her mother depends on her to help with his physical care as well as with the cooking, cleaning, and other household chores. Her other brother, age 19, works at a full-time job and is rarely home when he is off work. She describes her father as the dominant force in the family, even though he is sometimes absent for extended periods of time as a result of “getting into trouble when he starts drinking.” She states that she realizes she would have more control over her time if she were to move out on her own, but that would not be possible, because “my mother could never manage without me during the times when my father is gone.”

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CASE EXAMPLE 2: RICHARD
Richard Johnson, age 52, has sought counseling at the suggestion of an emergency room physician. Richard had made four trips to the hospital emergency room within the past three months, each time because he was certain he was having a heart attack. Each time, his electrocardiograms (EKGs) and other medical tests were normal and he was discharged.
In his first session with the counselor, Richard described the symptoms that had led the physician to refer him. They were textbook symptoms of panic attacks. Richard’s wife accompanied him to the counselor’s office, and she was included in the first 15 minutes of the session while initial information was gathered. She appeared to be very supportive of Richard’s decision to seek counseling and provided this occupational information about herself: she works part-time in a small gift shop, taking care of sales, inventory, and general store management duties.

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The counselor noted that Richard is highly verbal and articulate. He is well read and can quote entire passages from Kafka and Tolstoy. He did not finish high school. At age 20, he enrolled in several courses to complete his GED but quit because they were boring. He has been employed for 18 years as a forklift machine operator in a warehouse. He and his wife have been married for 24 years, and they have no children.
Richard describes his work as dull and unchallenging, but adds that it compensates him well financially. He says he is lucky to have such a good job despite his lack of education. When he is asked about what he does for enjoyment, he talks at length about his love of woodworking. His wife chimes in, stating that he does beautiful work refinishing old furniture and has designed and created many small wooden objects as gifts for friends. Richard’s goals for counseling, other than to “stay out of emergency rooms,” are ill defined. He feels as though his life has no meaning and that he is just “drifting through.”

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