Career Counseling as a Life-Designing Intervention

Reviews the video, Career counseling over time, with Mark L. Savickas (2010). The psychotherapy series hosted by Jon Carlson and produced by the American Psychological Association brings psychotherapy actions as they occur to the interested public and provides comprehensive information and learning material for professionals active in psychotherapy. In this video, Savickas introduces career counseling, a field that is very relevant as the domain of work in our lives is very important. Savickas, chairperson of the Department of Behavioral Sciences at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, is the expert in the video, and the viewer observes him counseling and explaining the mission of career counseling and his personal approach. The DVD contains six counseling sessions, three with each of two clients. In an interview with the series host, Jon Carlson, Savickas describes his conception of career counseling, a narrative approach based on career construction theory, stressing efforts to support the client in making the best of the given social opportunities. He clearly outlines the social changes in the working world that have occurred over the past few decades that require a different understanding of how individuals match work. He encourages clients to make the vocational world serve their personal goals. This DVD series is relevant for all career counseling professionals and for those psychotherapists who would like to address work and career issues in their interventions. It not only demonstrates practical counseling skills but also indicates how to translate complex conceptual and theoretical propositions into practical work, an issue that Savickas has been instrumental in bringing to the attention of career counselors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)