Chapter 6

Chapter 6

            I enjoyed learning more about Savicka’s career construction theory in chapter 6. As Brown has mentioned that the construction of self occurs primarily through a reflective process, that is, thinking about self and interpreting the thoughts as they occur in context (Brown, 2016).  According to Brown, Savicka believes that by using the language we have acquired we literally self-talk ourselves into existence (2016). This really made me think about the things I say when I self-talk and how I act. I believe self-talk is a big part of our language, however, I think self-talk could be both positive or negative.

            A term that I really like that Savicka uses is the term “self as project.” Self as project suggests that the idea of the self as project is a relatively new concept spawned by an unstable work structure and the digital revolution (Brown, 2016). Brown goes into more detail and talks about how we can relate this term to our career paths. Our careers can take us in so many different directions and they can be good or bad directions. Everyone goes through ups and downs in their career journey. Brown describes “a project” as the work in progress and how it might take a lot of work and bumps in the road to get to where you want to be. I think this term is good because I feel as though a lot of people can relate to the term.

            I found table 6.2 to be very helpful because it summarized Savicka’s five-step approach to career counseling. The five steps are construction, deconstruction, reconstruction, coconstruction and action.  Reading Savicka’s article last week was really helpful in giving me a good base understanding of his career counseling theory. When reading each five steps, I was comparing it to the case study from Savicka’s article, Constructivist Counseling for Career Indecision. My favorite part of the chapter was seeing each five steps of the career-counseling model broken down in the example with B and talked about step by step.

            When reading the case study with B and the counselor, I was really focusing on the counselor and how they were reacting to all of B’s emotions and thoughts. I know I am only in my first semester of the School Counseling program but I always have questions on how I would respond in all different kind of situations and what I should or shouldn’t say. In my Counseling and Theory I class we meet with a partner and listen to each other and act as a client and counselor. It is hard for me sometimes not to relate their story to myself. What I have learned is that you want the client to find their own way and by them talking about it more and telling their story helps them find their way. It was interesting to focus on the counselor because they were doing just that. They were asking questions to better understand B’s story and life. At one point in the construction stage, the counselor pointed out that they were acting as a director. Even as I was reading the example, I was comparing myself to B in some ways and I caught myself and thought, I need to focus on her story and not pull myself into it. It think it is helpful to keep reading case studies like this because the more I read, the more I feel myself understand Savicka’s career construction theory better.

Brown, D. (2016). Career Information, Career Counseling, and Career Development (11^th ed.). New York: Pearson.