WORK AND CAREER

Most adults in the USA spend more time at work than they do with family. Work impacts income, time, self-image, stress, sleep, health, and more. Most adults also make the majority of their friends through work. While relationship stress is the most common reason people seek professional counseling, work relationships are often a big part of this picture.

The goals in career counseling are to help identify and improve sources of stress, as well as to explore and make decisions about oneself and the world of work to enable steps toward longer term changes.

This requires a holistic discussion of values, personality, interests, abilities, qualifications, health, responsibilities (including family), resources, networks, work settings and conditions, and opportunities. Small action steps can be planned and job seeking skills may be practiced as a part of therapy. In addition, many people have been burned-out or demoralized by their jobs. In these cases, therapy would also focus on gaining some separation from the impact of work and rebuilding one’s sense of purpose and a realistic, more hopeful sense of self.