ABSTRACT

In recent years I have made a concerted effort to stand back and look at the career counselling process through fresh eyes. I have come to some new understandings with respect to client problems and the way in which clients and counsellors relate to one another. I have used the term “active engagement” to capture some elements of this new perspective (Amundson, 2003a). With this approach there is a critical evaluation of traditional counselling conventions and an emphasis on creativity, story telling, questioning techniques, action strategies and relationship building. There also is the recognition of the need to integrate personal and career counselling. In building this more active counselling approach I have relied heavily on constructivist notions of career counselling. I have placed at the centre the notion of meaning-making from both client and counsellor perspectives.