Integrating personal and career counseling to promote sustainable development and change

Abstract

This article reports on the integration of personal and career counseling to promote sustainable development and change. An explorative, descriptive, instrumental, single-case study approach was followed. Qualitative and quantitative data collection strategies were used to collect data, and an integrative career construction counseling intervention was conducted. The intervention comprised, first, elicitation of the participant’s micro- and meso-career-life stories; second, integration of these stories into a coherent macro-story, with the participant’s authorization of the narrative; and, third, co-construction by the participant and the counselor of action steps to facilitate action and forward movement. Integrating personal and career counseling helped to address the participants’ deep-seated personal needs while simultaneously addressing his career counseling needs. Longitudinal, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research is essential to determine the value and importance of integrating personal and career counseling. This study contributed to expanding the research on interventions that integrate personal and career counseling, promoting the development of sustainable career-life projects.