Facilitating Change in Career Construction Counseling

A guide that teaches practitioners how to facilitate meaningful client change through the three stages of career construction counseling.

This practical book blends career counseling theory with theoretical approaches to the narrative construction of the self, to support clients who are adapting to new career tasks and job transitions. Chapters explore why people experience difficulty making career decisions, and how their self-narratives can impede change. The authors emphasize narrative-based interventions that help clients author their own significant and coherent career stories. By developing these stories, clients connect self-concepts to work roles, discover how work fits into their lives, and make meaning through their work.

The authors emphasize the importance of tailoring intervention approaches to clients’ needs. They include dialogue excerpts from real career construction counseling sessions, to give readers a moment-to-moment understanding of the counselor’s decision-making. These dialogues also include practical comments that clarify the counselor’s intentions, or describe performance errors that put therapeutic collaboration at risk.