Community or Network?

On holiday in the highlands I had time to reflect on community...Still a great sense of community and trust in the west coast villages in the highlands! I asked my partner if he thought community was still alive and his response was, of course! He said - individuals choose which community they wish to belong to. He said - what do you mean by community, there is different perspectives. Community needs trust and community comes about due to a common need or purpose – quite rightly in the highlands in remote village’s people come together, supporting and assisting each other!

On our first night we had no electricity and approached a neighbour for advice, on arrival another neighbour came around also advising there was no electric - there everyone was communicating about the situation, the essence of Community!

My view is community is like a team, working towards the common goal or purpose, like community education and partnerships or networks driving change for development in society and individual progression. Professions interact in different communities, at work, and forums, where people come together to share knowledge for creative practice, to provide generic services to clients through a community approach, or network.

Online we have networks of different communities, technologies bringing people together with a common interest or purpose, whether entertainment, social, educational or professional. Technology has enhanced networking and driven an online social community, creating a knowledge sharing culture, enhancing awareness and life-long learning....... e-reflection of guidance practice, innovation and new ways of working is an initiative being driven by the Scottish Government. Bringing together the guidance profession through technology, blogging for future best practice, adding a SHEEN to guidance, community education, career planning and economic development!......... see www.heacademy.ac.uk/sheen

Stirling University, theories of guidance

Theories are very much used and reflected upon in the Career Development Centre. Their approach to guidance based on the principal of ‘DOTS’. Although more ‘SODiT’ starting with self-awareness!

The team also considering online assessment for their student’s, are considering the benefits of the assessment and what theories apply in understanding the basis of analysis and profiles generated.

Constructivism, both social and personal constructs being captured and learning theories and styles. How the individual perceives experience and interacts with others is also a facet of the assignment – thus reflecting on social cognitive and possibly the sociological concept of community interaction theories or structures. There is also a logical principal and a measurement of how perceptive individuals are, how we see and relate to the world around us..........I can see some benefit in using the information as a basis for discussion, however still feel good interview technique could generate this also!

Narrative is also used but through talking mats! Helping the individual tell their story through visual prompts, organising pictures to give meaning and importance to individual motive.

The Strategy of Success; People, Community, Society, Economic Development!

I don’t agree with all the comments made in today’s lecture by Dr. Maxims, I believe that he is passionate about driving change in the way guidance is delivered and how guidance practitioners interact with society....however, I do believe that change is resulting in the community and that the Scottish Government has their Agenda to drive innovation and creativity in the way career education and guidance is delivered to drive economic development.

Change in the community will be the result of good work of professions to develop strategies for inclusion, and already I have seen job roles for community projects, with statements in job specs for new ways of working, creativity and innovation in the delivery, monitoring and development of programs for employability and progression.

I agree that some members within society will have difficulty in sourcing opportunities, however with partnership working with; schools, colleges, universities, employers, guidance practitioners, development opportunities will result from improved education, e.g. relevant education for work and personal skills development, progression frameworks which allow people to develop at their own personal pace, and regeneration projects where community interaction results, thus improving community networking, generating opportunities for people to gain work skills, raising ‘self awareness’ of work and careers, which community members can identify with, involving all member of society giving them a common goal and purpose. Special needs schools are also involved in community activity, this increasing chance opportunities for disadvantaged people for progression. Or as Remploy put it assisting people meeting capabilities.

We have all heard ‘stories’ about extraordinary people who have achieved great things, people who have been disadvantaged in some way or who face a barrier, with great attitude and motivation can achieve and progress and also participate in economic development.

People shape society not society shaping people – People first; people are the government introducing strategies, people are senior managers setting plans and goals, shriving to achieve the company vision, interacting with communities in the competitive market, people are the practitioners who give guidance, listen, counsel and help others understand ‘self’ and gain ‘self-belief’. People interact in community activity, who they interact with - influences, educates and inspires... people drive the economy.

Things are changing in line with the government agenda for future Skills for Scotland, yes there is a structure but without a structure, a vision, we would have individuals working to their own agenda, no consistency, no common goal. Someone, no matter what situation has to take a lead. (so who is the expert?) The Scottish government have a vision for improved education, training and employment, through social inclusion, regeneration, developing Scottish citizens and a nation of confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens, they are setting the agenda for investing in our economy for competitiveness in the global marketplace............in essence united we stand, I guess then a strong community approach! How this is achieved is by setting goals, plans and strategies which we work towards, we are recognised through employment by appraisal and personal develop plans. People who are recognised are motivated and have higher self-esteem to achieve and progress. The more we invest in people the better we perform and progress, we then generate wealth in the economy for financial rewards, generating wealth through recognition and regeneration, investing in people. In my view - People First!

.................I guess this means I am humanist; person centred valuing the community approach to career education and guidance with a positive structure or agenda!

Creative Writing ‘creating the me I want to be’

...I was reading an article written by Viki Wilson in psychologies magazine and it hit me between the eyes, narrative! There was a story about a lady having been made redundant and how at her leaving drink her manager was describing her as someone she barely knew! She had lost her self-awareness, her self-identity; a mother, hard-working colleague, wife. Now at a transition point in life she decided to re-invent herself, find herself again, her values, interests. The article discusses - The art of re-invention; much more than skin deep, or a new wardrobe, but an essential life skill! The focus is on defining your brand or core values, your fingerprint, working out who you are in relation to the rest of the world. It then occurred to me, that in reflection this was about personal constructs and how we exist in our world (existentialism). ‘Once the brand is established, it becomes easier to see what action you might take whether re-discovering an old passion or moving to the other side of the world to take up a new career’ (Vicki Watson). The article continues to describe the rules of re-invention; create a clear brand, have a story, know your product, know your audience; how this is achieved is through narrative, creative writing, listing and reflecting to aid decision making > try it out!

Create a brand

1. Dividing a piece of paper up into sections; work, family, health, spirituality, creativity, love, friends
2. Write as many words down in each section in 1 minute which describes how you see yourself in relation to those categories
3. Think about the words which make you feel proud, frustrated, surprised
4. Select 4 or 5 that you would most like to define you

Define your story

1. Create a timeline listing significant choices, choose 2 and decide if you were in control of making the decision and what was the impact, positive or negative
2. What would have been the outcome if you had made a different choice
3. Describe the self you left behind
4. How do you feel about that self; relieved that you are not that person or do you envy the person you could have been
5. Think about a current decision you are considering
6. Try mapping out different futures based on consequences of different choices; thus constructing a narrative!

Know your product, psychologist Timothy Butler suggests we now consider achievements as they are a measure of what we contribute to the world and what we value in ourselves, achievement is the product we sell.

1. Over the last twelve months what have you done that made you feel strongly, ‘really done something’
2. Imagine 1 year forward at the end of the next twelve months, what would make you feel you had done real work and made a genuine contribution

Know your audience, understanding the impact other people have on the decisions we make. Timothy Butler calls them stakeholders, you are never alone in a room when making a decision

1. Make a list of stakeholders in the decision you are facing
2. What is the tone you hear when they speak to you
3. For each stakeholder, what was their life dream
4. How did they realise it, or did they fail to achieve it
5. How do they see your strengths and weaknesses
6. What do you sense is important for them that they’ve never admitted

. . . It is important that we take responsibility for our own decision making in-line with our core values, awareness and beliefs, our self-identity and goals.

Making sense between traditional theories and post-modern

... I believe that traditional theories tried to make sense of how each individual reached a decision and what influenced decision making, understanding development in people’s lives including career choice, everyone is different, with different interests and values. Depending on what you achieved or how you developed, depended on opportunities in your social structural environment and your learning experiences. This was more prominent in years gone by, when people stayed in their family circle and took up education and jobs in the local community.

As time has changed as has jobs and opportunities due to technology and globalisation, so have individual’s goals, belief’s and challenge’s. Greater demand for counselling has been sought, to aid individuals with life change and choice. Narrative helps counsellors understand where people come from and enable both counsellor and client construct events to make sense of their world! Post-modern theories in essence is concerned with how to assist clients, how to be analytical and non-directive to aid clients to become self-aware and gain self-belief, to achieve goals and progress through life stages and career development.

Approaches to Counselling

Existential psychology relating to meaning and being considers how a person creates their space and perceptions in the world around them. People understand their world by their experiences within it and construct their values and interests in accordance to life experience and social interactions, (Constructivism). George Kelly believed that Individuals construct and re-construct personality as they develop over time in accordance with how they perceive outcomes in the world which they exist. Arguably it could be said that people are shaped by their social environment; existential theorists believe that ‘individuals world is constructed by past present and future’. Freud is concerned with psychoanalytic approach and believes to understand an adult personality you require knowledge of childhood experience and parental relationships (constructing the past). Children will express themselves in different ways and exercise behaviours, to satisfy a desired outcome or need; developing self in relation to outcomes, and responses from others in the social environment. Personality is the individual’s way of experimenting with their world; outcomes will drive motives, behaviours and actions.

It is the role of the counsellor to understand the client, their world and sense of meaning. The counsellor puts the client first and foremost, (person-centred approach) developing rapport with the client through listening, understanding and engaging in their world, having a positive regard for the client to develop trust. The counsellor will summarise the clients ‘story’ (narrative approach), reflecting back to the client, to appreciate the client’s reasoning. The counsellor will develop an awareness of personality, motives, seeing the client as the whole person with consideration to past present and future. The counselling approach therefore taking account of the individual, their personality, values and development from childhood, understanding patterns of behaviour, motives in decision making. The counsellor utilises concepts from all theories and models to adhere to individual needs and differences which has been shaped by the pace of change in society, the world in which we exist.

... ‘Counselling is designed to help clients to understand and clarify their views of their life-space, to learn to reach their self determined goals, through meaningful, well-informed choices and through resolution of problems or emotional or interpersonal nature’ (Burks and Stefflre 1979).