Unit_1_Careers_Guidance

Certificate in Career Guidance and Development Assignment 1 The Critical Reflective Evaluation The Client I interviewed visited the College to discuss options in relation to becoming a nurse. She already worked part time as a health secretary was attracted towards the health sector as she saw herself as a naturally altruistic person. My Client now wished to become a nurse as she saw this as a more respectable position. This was important to her as she wanted her children to be proud of her. As she didn’t fully understand the options open to her, we used the interview to explore routes into nursing. I ended the interview having asked the client to undertake her own research into Universities that accept access courses. I believe I am primarily using tacit knowledge from previous interventions (Schon, 1983) refers to this as “reflection-in-action”. Nursing is a pathway I have explored with my clients many times, so as soon as I am aware of the client’s goals I am automatically referring back to previous interventions from my experience. Although (Schon, 1983) comments on the complex and fast moving nature of professional guidance I feel that my guidance is learned from experience of the same scenario. I also structure my interview with the client in an organised way giving it a clear beginning, middle & end. In the beginning stage of the interview I invite the client to express her reasons for seeking guidance, and to elaborate on what it is she is trying to achieve. After a period of exploration with the client about her options and their feasibility we work together on agreeing a course of action. This structured approach has its roots firmly in Egan’s model (Egan, 1975) during the interview my client was able to explore the reasons she wished to become a nurse. There are limitations to this model such as its assumption that all clients are the same and that it is based on a problem existing which in turn suggests a solution will be offered. In the case of my client there wasn’t really a problem to be solved, the client just required some information about her options which she could evaluate and take forward herself. I found the questions posed by (Holm and Stephenson, 1994) a really useful guide when approaching reflection of this interview although I feel there a perhaps too many questions in this structure I found it really useful to have questions to ask myself rather than just trying to go over events in my mind. The three stage approach that I used in my interview gives the intervention order which allows a discussion to take place in a structured way. In my interview this helped to give the client and I time to explore the reasons she had been so direct with her initial request to become a nurse. The client had initially claimed that she wished to be a nurse as she worked as a health worker and had a naturally altruistic nature. She had previous experience of caring for her elderly mother who had recently passed away. I asked her some probing questions about whether she had fully considered the commitment her chosen path would require , this was an interesting point in the interview as she began to open up about how she perceived her children saw her, and what she perceived as a respectable job to have. It immediately seemed to me that my client had ulterior motives for pursuing this course mainly focussing on her desire to be respected by her young children and not to be stuck in as she put it “dead end” job when they were old enough to recognise it as such. This part of the interview I think went well as my client began to explore her own motives with me as I challenged and probed what she had originally said. I thought this was important as what had begun as a seemingly straightforward request for information was actually becoming a much more open and useful session. As I challenged her she began to think more deeply about her reasons and motivations which led to further rationalisation of her desires. From listening to my interview I can see evidence of several theories of guidance, I think that my interview is particularly related to the stage theory presented by (Culley & Bond, 2004) At the beginning stage of the interview I was primarily concerned with establishing rapport with my client, by welcoming her in a friendly manner and making sure she was comfortable before proceeding. This stage of the interview also related to clarifying why she had booked the interview or in other words establishing the problem. Once I felt I knew what the situation required I was ready to let my client discuss her motives and begin exploration of her needs. As my client told her story I was able to use my skills as an advisor to facilitate the conversation, listening, asking open/probing questions and reflecting on her answers as we discussed her options. The interview ended when I decided that my client would benefit from further research into university course, I set her goals to achieve before we met again, this was partly to involve her in her own discovery as well as to test how committed she was to becoming a nurse. I believe asking her to find out more on her own will encourage her to work harder to achieve said goals, which is also related to my own personal belief that people will invest more into something they truly want to achieve. The main limitation I feel to this theory is its rigid and static nature, I believe that in practice I adjust the length and content of each stage to suit my client, in this case a lot of time was spent exploring in the beginning stage, whereas the end stage was comparatively short as I wished her to do some research of her own. Egan’s 3 stage model (Egan, 2007) is also evident in my interview identifying the “issues for change”, in the beginning of the interview when the client made it clear she wanted to change her job/career. This was followed by exploring what “made sense”, for my client i.e. what did she understand about her chosen path. Finally “what does the client need to do to get there”, this is especially linked to the action planning final stage of the interview which resulted in my client embarking on her own research. From listening to my interview again I can identify and evaluate the following skills used to assist my client. Once the client was ready I encouraged her to tell me why she had sought out Information, Advice and Guidance in the first place. This is evidence of me using listening & attending skills. During the course of my client telling her story I encouraged her to continue by paraphrasing the key points to show that I understood what she was saying and wished her to carry on. During the course of the interview my client seemed to run out of steam when describing why she wanted to become a nurse, I kept the interview moving along by asking open questions such as “what do you understand are a nurses main roles”, this gave my client focus and the opportunity to expand on her own understanding of her goals. At certain points during the discussion when I felt my client hadn’t fully considered what she was talking about I asked the client probing questions “What made you decide to become a nurse”, “what do you understand are a nurses main roles”, These probing questions helped my client to reflect on her own thoughts and feelings and I believe led to a deeper exploration of her motives and desires. Some of my questioning was challenging to the client and helped her to think again about some of the points she had made – for example… I asked her directly “how long will it take to become a fully qualified nurse'”, and “What do you think the financial cost will be for such a pathway'” these questions directly challenged my client to reveal her understanding of her chosen pathway. It soon became clear that my client didn’t realise that she had to attend university to become a nurse. She thought it was something the NHS could train you to become without necessarily undertaking educational study. This revelation also had an impact on how much time it would take my client to fully train. I explained that in order to become a fully qualified Nurse you must attend University. Although this was obviously a setback for my client and she looked visibly disappointed, I was able to reassure her that her goals weren’t unobtainable and that if she still wished to become a nurse then it was quite possible that she could. Once we had ironed out and explored some of my clients motives and her understanding of them I was able to then begin the process of helping her to put together a plan of action, this is similar to the process of “crafting a plan”, as referred to by (Egan,1975) The main point of action for the client was to take her own personal research of her chosen path forward. I asked her to gather further information from universities of acceptance of access courses as well as attending an access course assessment. I think that several theories of career development are appropriate for my client. The interview revealed some telling points about my clients motives which I believe are directly related to her career development. My client’s ambition to become a nurse seemed through exploration to be grounded in a belief that her current job in the health sector offering her no further career development and that she herself labelled it “dead end”. This seems to fit well with (Erikson, 1959) Stages of ego development, in particular the stage referred to as adulthood which is concerned with generativity vs. stagnation. I believe that my client may have felt stagnated in her current role and this at least in some part had contributed to her seeking advice. (Donald Super, 1980) life career rainbow is also appropriate when you consider that my client was also a mother to several children as well as working full time and was now making the decision to take on further study in order to improve her career development. Some elements of (Hayes and Hopson, 1976) seven stage model of transition are relevant as I believe my client had perhaps felt depression, and was now searching for new opportunities for her career; however I feel that (Nicholson, 1990) four stage model is much more succinct and appropriate for my client. The transition my client went through highlights that any change can be stressful and has a negative effect on a person’s ability / desire to seek new career opportunities. I believe I met my client during the “encounter” Stage where she was making sense of a course action she had decided to embark on; the fact that she sought advice from me only reinforces the stressful nature of change in her career development. Having analysed a one to one interview in this way has really allowed me to see the relevance in many of the theories & models of career development and reflective practice. Taking time to reflect on my interviews in the future I think will help me to assist my clients in their goals as well as highlighting possible underlying issues that I may have otherwise missed. Also using a structured approach to my interviews has been beneficial for me and my client, allowing my client time to tell their story as well as giving myself a structure to follow with my questioning. Although I like the structure of my interview I think it is important to retain a degree of flexibility in terms of how long the beginning, middle & end sections need to be. When studying the theories and models during this course I find that I try to find one theory that will fit all. I now realise that this is unrealistic and unhelpful for my clients. I have discovered how some theories may only have one relevant point to a particular client, and even seemingly out dated or theories containing little thorough explanation can assist me to better understand the needs of a client or their situation. The main way I will seek to move my practice forward will be to take time to reflect on my interviews and to try to think about which theory of career development best suits a particular client. This process has also helped me to move forward in my practice as it showed me that perhaps I was becoming lazy in my treatment of clients and not fully exploring a client’s needs if on the face of it the request seemed straightforward. I believe this will help me to move forward with my practice as I will now be able to reflect with the client as the intervention happens, as well as after the client has left. The personal reflection I undertake will be facilitated by asking myself some of the questions proposed by (Holm & Stephenson, 1994) I will also seek to instigate allowing time for reflection after an interview has taken place as part of my normal working day. I think this will be particularly useful when seeing clients for more than on intervention, I believe if I take time to reflect on a client’s interview before they return for further advice I will be better equipped to help them during later interventions. References Schon, D. (1983) the reflective practitioner, New York: Basic Books Inc. Egan, G. (2002) the skilled helper, Brooks Cole. (originally published 1975) Holm, D & Stephenson, S (1994) Reflection- A Students Perspective Culley, S & Bond, T (2004) Integrative Counselling Skills in Action, sage publications ltd. Erikson, EH. (1959) Identity and the life cycle: selected papers volume 1, International Universities press. Super, D. (1980) Opportunities in Psychology, VGM Career Horizons Hayes, J & Hopson, B. (1976) Transition: Understanding & Managing Change, Martin Robertson. Nicholson (1990) Kidd, JM – Understanding Career Counselling, Sage publications ltd.