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Abstract
The authors demonstrate the utility of LGBTQ affirmative career counseling model by applying the model to the case of a client with multiple marginalized identities. The case illustrates the dynamic relationships among the client's cultural identities and sociopolitical environments. The idiographic career counseling process highlights: (a) identification and support of the client's strengths through use of the Strengths Inventory and (b) use of story crafting to construct a narrative describing an attainable future.
In the past, directive trait-and-factor approaches were once the interventions of choice. Recently, more individualized (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013; Scholl, Gibson, Despres, & Boyarinova, 2014) and less directive holistic approaches to career counseling have become ascendant (Farmer, 2009; Zunker, 2016). Career counseling is widely viewed by practitioners as an idiographic process tailored to the individual client (Brott, 2001). This contemporary emphasis on individual responsiveness led to an increased use of postmodern approaches to career counseling (Pryor & Bright, 2008; Savickas, 2005, 2009). Moreover, the holistic nature of career counseling means practitioners are simultaneously dealing with personal concerns (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013; Zunker, 2016) such as workplace discrimination based on race, gender, age, and sexual orientation, and the lavender ceiling.
Feminist and other multicultural career counseling models emphasize relationships between sociopolitical systemic factors and individual career development (Betz, 2002; Byars-Winston & Fouad, 2006). These progressive models demonstrate the utility of strengths-focused dialogue, empowerment, and client-directed meaning making (Cook, Heppner, O'Brien, 2002; Zunker, 2016). They contextualize clients within their sociopolitical environments, acknowledging the significant impact of systemic oppression. These models represent important advancements relative to trait-and-factor models that overlook the harmful influences (e.g., discrimination in hiring, gender stereotyping) exerted on minority individuals by external social systems (Andersen & Taylor, 2013).
Several career development scholars have detailed how systems of oppression influence the overall functioning of persons from marginalized, non-dominant group backgrounds. One example can be found in feminist vocational/career theory (FVCT, Hackett & Kohlhart, 2012), which is based on the tenets of feminist therapy (Wyche & Rice, 1997). FVCT adds insight into the evolv- ing nature of women's labor force participation, and highlights gender-based trends in women's vocational experiences. Some of these trends include underrepresentation in traditionally maledominated fields such as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Recently, women have attained higher-level...