Innovative Utilization of the Discrimination Model for Career-focused Counselling Supervision

Abstract

Career-focused counselling supervision provides a venue in which elements of effective service delivery can be enhanced.Within career development services, Hoppin and Goodman (Clinical supervision of career development practitioners: Practical strategies National Career Development Association, Broken Arrow, OK, 2014) outlined the application of clinical supervision to career services professionals. Established approaches to clinical supervision such as the discrimination model (Bernard and Goodyear, in Counsellor Education and Supervision. 19:60-68, 1979, 1997) in which a career practitioner is assessed in three skills areas of intervention, conceptualization, and personalization (i.e. adapting his or her own personal style to counselling while being aware of personal issues). The supervisor shifts between the roles of consultant, counsellor, and teacher based on the development needs of the practitioner. This chapter contains information on the connection between career and mental health concerns as well as the manner in which supervision of career-focused counselling and more specifically the discrimination model can enhance career service delivery. Specific strategies grounded in this approach and a case study outlining its application are provided.