Save Me from Myself!

Save Me from Myself!Escaping the One-Way Stream

Freeman Woolnough, MEd, CCCCARINGCOUNSELING CENTER1Whats on the agenda

IntroCase StudyCalling/MindsetSpecific Interventions?Group Discussion

5 minutes2Who is this guy..?

5 minutes3Have you seen..?

5 minutes

Millenials: sense of entitlement (Narcissistic PD diagnosed three times higher in current college-age people compared to older generations)Question: Can we do anything?Actually, yes! But it requires time, energy, money, and these are often things we do not have in excess..! 4Lets look at a case Alex, 32 years oldHas 2 kids, partner currently unemployedPersonal aide in seniors homeFamilys culture has always looked down on aide work, but hospitals are respectableLoves helping people, good with handling gross thingsFrustration with supervision, team members making mistakesMom died 5 years ago, made decision to become nurseHS diploma, went to uni 4 years ago and failed many courses (incl. Biology)Looking for resources to become a nurse ASAP without going through the necessary schooling

5 minutes5Speed Round!5 minutes to jot down as many thoughts as possible on the topic/caseThings to considerActivities/InterventionsLanguage to use/Phrasing

10 minutes6Feelings: Client

10 minutes

Lets talk about how Alex may be feelingRight nowLeading up to thisIf Alex continues If we try to shift away from nursing

Relief?7Feelings: Professional

10 minutes

How about us?Hearing Alexs storyIf we allow to continueIf we bring up possible shiftingWhen we failWhen we are successful

my counsellor never believed in me, and yet here I am

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?Need to meet the client where they are atAcknowledge we have our own biases as well8What is this thing called calling?

10 minutes

Going to take a few minutes to give some background info on some research being done into calling and mindset two important concepts that we should have in the back of our minds in cases like these! May help us to contextualize why Alex is having such a hard time shiftinga consuming, meaningful passion people experience toward a domainIs generally considered quite positive in career development- Yet, self-insights are consistently inaccurate and people are generally overconfident can actually lead to negative consequences

How many people here believe current occupation is their calling? How did you know?Did anybody ever a) do something outside of their calling or b) have a different calling that has yet to come to fruition?Individuals with a stronger calling are much more likely to reject any form of career advice, even from trusted sources (*musicians, study showed job satisfaction is just lower than prison guards)Used to be fairly religious, but now extends into secular much moreStudy teased apart perceiving a calling and living a calling people with ^ income and education much more likely to endorse living (ie. acting on) a callingAround 75% of most adults do feel some sort of calling (could be just a bit, but its still there)

9Mindset

Performance vs. learning orientation(fixed vs. growth mindset)

Carol Dweck research on mindsetIdea being that there is are two main ways that we can frame issues coming up in our lives (not necessarily static, likely on a spectrum)Fixed mindset this is how things are, they always have been and they always will beGrowth mindset things can changeNot inherently good/bad; however, individuals who tend to rely on the fixed mindset tend to live with greater dissatisfaction We automatically assume, oh Im all about change, I have to be for my jobThink about your romantic relationships if you came home and told your partner that youd like to go for dinner, how would they react? Are you sure? Is this the way it always is? *our beliefs about ourselves dont always match with our thoughts/behaviours

Interestingly, our mindset is often affected by our childhood experiences (surprise surprise) study on children from elementary to middle school. Why do some kids who are successful early on plummet later? **Not only bad things can lead to fixed mindset constantly being told you are smart, you are good = giving up

Sound familiar re: calling? Alex? So mindset is developed, NOT genetic, etc. SO that should mean that we should be able to change it. And lots of evidence to show that we can primarily addressing overtly ones ability to change10Thats nice to know, but Motivational Interviewing

10 minutes

Motivational interviewing is non-judgmental, non-confrontational and non-adversarialattempts to increase the client's awareness of the potential problems caused, consequences experienced, and risks faced as a result of the behavior in questionhelp clients envision a better future, and become increasingly motivated to achieve it"How might you like things to be different?" or "How does ______ interfere with things that you would like to do?Listening for change talk (vs. eliciting sustain talk)Supporting autonomyRoll with resistance (empathy/shifting focus)

11Some other theories Narrative

10 minutes

Change in perception of control (important for those whose calling is impeded)How did you get to this point?Framing/Re-framing: Taking on different point of viewUsing metaphor to look at different ways to enact change12Some other theories Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

5 minutes

Hows that going for you?Challenging: whats your evidence that this is the right path? What core beliefs are here following down (whats the worst that will happen if you are not a nurse by the end of this year?)13Lets come back to Alex 32 years oldHas 2 kids, partner currently unemployedPersonal aide in seniors homeFamilys culture has always looked down on aide work, but hospitals are respectableLoves helping people, good with handling gross thingsFrustration with supervision, team members making mistakesMom died 5 years ago, made decision to become nurseHS diploma, went to uni 4 years ago and failed many courses (incl. Biology)Looking for resources to become a nurse ASAP without going through the necessary schooling

14So what do we do?

Rest of time

Where would you start? Where would you want to finish?How would you say it?What questions would you ask?SHARE!!! 15ReferencesMillennials: The Next Greatest Generation? (Time Magazine, May 2013)Listen to your heart? Calling and receptivity to career advice. Dobrow, S. R., & Tosti-Kharas, J. (2012)Calling: The development of a scale measure. Dobrow, S. R., & Tosti-Kharas, J. (2011)Calling and career counseling with college students: Finding meaning in work and life. Adams, C. M. (2012)Disentangling the link between perceiving a calling and living a calling. Duffy, R. D., & Autin, K. L. (2013)Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (Carol Dweck)Motivational Interviewing MI, Glossary & Fact Sheet (Kathleen Sciacca)Maps of Narrative Practice (Michael White)Cognitive Therapy Techniques (Robert Leahy)16