Informational interviews can be great tools for your clients or students (and you) to use to explore potential career options. For this discussion, summarize your informational interview so your peers can learn from your research. Include the specialization of the person interviewed and summarize the responses to the following questions: In your post, please also include any additional, relevant information or insights you gained from your interview. Respond to the posts of at least two of your peers and provide feedback. Compare and contrast their interviews from your interview in the approach to integrating career counseling into their practices. You must respond to at least one peer from a different specialization. First peer posting I interviewed Melissa Edelmayer. She is a licensed independent social worker. In Ohio, social workers are eligible to practice counseling with the proper training and education. I have known Mrs. Edelmayer for approximately 9 years. She currently works at a private practice agency called Providers for Healthy Living. She specializes in mental health counseling with juveniles with training in CBT, Motivational Interviewing, and I-FAST where she has addressed substance abuse disorders, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety disorders, and family dysfunction As stated above, she currently works in private practice. Prior to her joining a private practice agency almost two years ago, she worked in a myriad of positions in non-profit mental health organizations ranging from Clinician to Director of Residential Care. Her experiences in residential have greatly influenced her career development and decision to join private practice. With larger agencies, there exist a larger bureaucracy that controls the direction of clinical practice. Mrs. Edelmayer stated that she has been appreciative of the experiences she received in these environments; however, she required some additional freedoms that allow her to spread her “clinical wings” into a new area. Mrs. Edelmayer stated that she has not solely focused on integrating career counseling into her practices as most of her clients tend to be youth and are afflicted with mental health and behavioral issues; however, she admits that there is some career counseling involved with many of her juvenile clients especially towards the middle of her treatments. Mrs. Edelmayer stated that this is useful in planning as career (or in the case of many of her clients, education) goals tend to be universal in many settings and situations throughout the lifespan process. Mrs. Edelmayer states that she is extensively trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Because of this, she has utilized it in ways that implement career counseling objectives
and goals. Because CBT is rooted in the theory that cognitive processes (which includes feelings and beliefs) determine behaviors, it makes sense that irrational or miscommunicated feelings and beliefs can lead to incorrect behaviors. Especially when working with youth, it can be a matter of challenging these feelings and beliefs in an attempt to change the behaviors so they can be more congruent to accepted societal norms. With career counseling, it can provide hope to break cycles of poor behaviors. Mrs. Edelmayer was asked specifically about career inventories. She stated that for her older adolescent clientele (and more), she uses the Career Thoughts Inventory. She stated that this has been especially useful in helping her clients help make decisions about which direction to take with their careers and appropriately integrated into her mental health sessions to work towards having unifying goals. She is able to streamline her services with their wants and needs. Mrs. Edelmayer describes working with people of all different backgrounds including variations in race/ethnicity, cultural identity, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, ableism, and socioeconomic status. She also acknowledges that her own unique cultural background has made her much more aware of how these different roles intersect for people of all backgrounds. Mrs. Edelmayer states that this is not necessarily the focus of her role since her clientele is largely juveniles with mental health concerns; however, with her partners, the topic is discussed during their supervision and consultation. Mrs. Edelmayer states that with her being in the field so long, it is always nice to see former clients who were on the brink of despair return from that place and lead happy, healthy lives in the best way they define it. The greatest challenges have been losing clients to death for circumstances that have been outside of her care. Mrs. Edelmayer re-emphasized her above statements by saying that it does not have to be particularly challenging to add career counseling goals into mental health treatment. She stated that if clinicians look at the totality of the client, it only makes sense for career counseling goals to be integrated into the clinical sessions. Because I have worked with Mrs. Edelmayer in the past, I have already had a decent amount of these conversations with her. With this particular interview, I was better able to understand how to implement career counseling by using CBT as I, too, have novice experience with it. We also discussed how using Motivational Interviewing in conjunction with our clients who have a substance abuse issue could benefit from these conversations; however, we both agreed that it is best to address the substance abuse issue first before discussing career goals. Second peer posting