The therapeutic collaboration in life design counselling: The case of Ryan

Department Of Applied Psychology, University Of Minho, Braga, Portugal ,Maria Do Céu Taveira,Paulo Cardoso,Filipa Silva,Eugénia Ribeiro,

doi:10.15700/saje.v37n4a1466

Department Of Applied Psychology, University Of Minho, Braga, Portugal , Maria Do Céu Taveira + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v37n4a1466

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Abstract

This study examined the therapeutic collaboration in a case of Life Design Counseling (LDC) with narrative change and positive career outcomes. The therapeutic collaboration-change model and correspondent coding system were used to in-tensively study the helping relationship throughout three sessions of LDC. The collaboration coding system enables the assessment of each therapeutic exchange within and outside of the client’s therapeutic zone of proximal development, defined as the space between the client’s actual therapeutic developmental level and his/her potential developmental level fomented by a collaborative relationship. Results show that in all sessions, counsellor and client worked mainly within the therapeutic proximal development zone, that is, they were able to interact collaboratively. The coding of the counsellor’s interventions throughout the counselling process was in accordance with the life-design framework. The collaboration-change model and coding system contributed to understand the process of change in LDC. Keywords : career construction; career counselling; career intervention; case study; coding system; Life Design Counselling; process of change; therapeutic collaboration; zone of proximal development

Highlights

In globalised societies, job opportunities and employment conditions are fragile and unstable, requiring individuals to assume greater responsibility for their career paths (Guichard, 2012; Lent & Brown, 2013; Savickas, Nota, Rossier, Dauwalder, Duarte, Guichard, Soresi, Van Esbroeck & Van Vianen, 2009)
Taking into consideration the links between career counselling and psychotherapy, and examples of effective integration of psychotherapy and career counselling process research, we argue that the study of the collaborative micro processes in career counselling can benefit from the progress of this line of research in psychotherapy
We propose the adoption of a therapeutic collaboration-change model developed by Ribeiro et al (2013) to understand the dynamics of the relationship between alliance and outcomes on a moment-to-moment basis, in career counselling

Summary

Introduction

Job opportunities and employment conditions are fragile and unstable, requiring individuals to assume greater responsibility for their career paths (Guichard, 2012; Lent & Brown, 2013; Savickas, Nota, Rossier, Dauwalder, Duarte, Guichard, Soresi, Van Esbroeck & Van Vianen, 2009). Despite the interest in narrative based approaches to career counselling, few studies have evaluated the outcomes and process of those approaches (i.e., Cardoso, 2012; Cardoso, Silva, Gonçalves & Duarte, 2014; Cook & Maree, 2016; Di Fabio, 2016; Di Fabio & Maree, 2012; Obi, 2015). Efficacy studies of career counselling have largely focused on traditional positivist interventions, presenting different effect sizes, ranging from .87 (Spokane & Oliver, 1983) to .41 (Brown & Krane, 2000). These results suggest that career counselling can produce different degrees of impact and that we need to investigate in more detail its processes to understand the psychological aspects inducing change in career counselling (Heppner & Heppner, 2003; Whiston & Rahardja, 2008)

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