Theory Paper
Theories are the foundation of career counseling. The goal of learning about theories is not necessarily to develop certain procedures or techniques for counseling, but to use them as a basis to understand career counseling and the research behind it. Zunker (2012) puts the main counseling theories in to four groups: trait-oriented, social learning and cognitive, developmental, and person-in-environment. Each of these theories marks an attempt to help and understand clients and the best way to counsel them. Some conflict each other while others build on each other. In this paper I will first outline my own career development. Then I will examine my career development from the perspective of Super’s Life-Span Life-Space theory. …show more content…
Second grade through 8th grade – Witnessing a childhood friend go through a major illness changed everything for me. One day during second grade, the little girl I usually sat next to on the bus, Cassy, wasn’t there. Then she was still not there for an entire week. I finally asked my bus driver where she was and he looked very sad and told me to ask my mom about it. My mom told me that Cassy was very sick and in a coma in the hospital (as I was older I would understand this was because Cassy had muscular dystrophy and pneumonia – a very dangerous combination that caused the doctors to induce a medicated coma). Cassy was in the hospital for six months. I remember her mom kept their Christmas tree up until June with all the presents under it waiting for Cassy to come home. When Cassy finally came home I played at her house a lot and got to know her medical team of nurses, CNAs, physical therapists, and respiratory therapists very well. I still wanted to be a mother, but my other career aspirations became nurse, respiratory therapist, and classroom aide – jobs where you are directly helping …show more content…
I was raised in a family with very traditional gender roles. Because of this, it did not even occur to me when I was growing up to think about having a career that men have traditionally had (things like engineer, scientist, or contractor). Even though I had good grades in science, I had it in my head that those career were for men based on what I had learned at home and in society. I love the career I have now, but I can freely admit that my job as a special education aide primarily involves jobs traditionally relegated to women – feeding children, changing their diapers, picking up after them, and helping them learn life skills such as telling time, counting money, and
Theories are the foundation of career counseling. The goal of learning about theories is not necessarily to develop certain procedures or techniques for counseling, but to use them as a basis to understand career counseling and the research behind it. Zunker (2012) puts the main counseling theories in to four groups: trait-oriented, social learning and cognitive, developmental, and person-in-environment. Each of these theories marks an attempt to help and understand clients and the best way to counsel them. Some conflict each other while others build on each other. In this paper I will first outline my own career development. Then I will examine my career development from the perspective of Super’s Life-Span Life-Space theory. …show more content…
Second grade through 8th grade – Witnessing a childhood friend go through a major illness changed everything for me. One day during second grade, the little girl I usually sat next to on the bus, Cassy, wasn’t there. Then she was still not there for an entire week. I finally asked my bus driver where she was and he looked very sad and told me to ask my mom about it. My mom told me that Cassy was very sick and in a coma in the hospital (as I was older I would understand this was because Cassy had muscular dystrophy and pneumonia – a very dangerous combination that caused the doctors to induce a medicated coma). Cassy was in the hospital for six months. I remember her mom kept their Christmas tree up until June with all the presents under it waiting for Cassy to come home. When Cassy finally came home I played at her house a lot and got to know her medical team of nurses, CNAs, physical therapists, and respiratory therapists very well. I still wanted to be a mother, but my other career aspirations became nurse, respiratory therapist, and classroom aide – jobs where you are directly helping …show more content…
I was raised in a family with very traditional gender roles. Because of this, it did not even occur to me when I was growing up to think about having a career that men have traditionally had (things like engineer, scientist, or contractor). Even though I had good grades in science, I had it in my head that those career were for men based on what I had learned at home and in society. I love the career I have now, but I can freely admit that my job as a special education aide primarily involves jobs traditionally relegated to women – feeding children, changing their diapers, picking up after them, and helping them learn life skills such as telling time, counting money, and