Carrier Counselling: Theories, Ethics, and Assessments for John

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of career counselling, focusing on the application of various theories and ethical considerations in a case study involving a 44-year-old teacher named John. The essay explores the relevance of Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory and the Learning Theory of Career Counselling to John's situation, highlighting the impact of self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and learning experiences on career choices. It also delves into the ethical and professional responsibilities of a counsellor, emphasizing the importance of maintaining confidentiality, showing respect, and adhering to principles such as beneficence and non-maleficence. Furthermore, the essay discusses the significance of objective assessments, such as the MMPI scale, in evaluating a client's psychological condition and provides insights into how these assessments can inform the counselling process. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of counselling in helping John address his dissatisfaction with his current career and improve his overall well-being, while also acknowledging the potential for a high score on the MMPI test due to the symptoms exhibited by John.

Running head: CARRIER COUNSELLING
Carrier Counselling
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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From the case study of John, it is reported that, he is a 44 years old man associated
with the teaching profession for last 15 years or more. However, John feels that he is
underrated for his work and he may receive more appreciation for his occupation. Recently
he is facing issues with her wife and along with this, the health condition of John’s son is not
well at all. His son is 17 years old and he was diagnosed with a Personality disorders recently
in Institute of Mental Health. Moreover, John thinks that, he has not adequate response to his
purpose of life and he is doing something that he does not enjoy at all. In this essay, the
relevant counselling theories applicable for John are discussed. Along with this, the ethical
and professional responsibility of the counsellor are also depicted. Moreover , the purposes
of objective assessments, considerations of objective testing and required tests for John are
discussed in a brief manner.
There are various theories associated with the career counselling of a person. Among
them Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory and Learning theory of Career counselling can be
applied in case of John. According to the Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory there are three
primary components of this theory and they are self-efficacy, outcome expectations and
personal goals of the individuals. The issue of self efficacy is associated with a few sources
such as personal performance of the individuals, verbal persuasion that is verbal
discouragements or encouragements, physiological and emotional factors that is perception of
stress reacti0on in the body and vicarious Experience. It is reported that, self efficacy play a
crucial role in cognitive regulation including regulation of motivation levels in the
individuals (Bandura, 2014). The issue of self-efficacy is associated with the issue of
motivation regulation as it is reported that, people can regulate their levels of motivation
according to their expectations from that task and as per their expectations they spend their
effort. So, it is very crucial to identify the level of expectations from a particular work.
According the Social Cognitive Theory, self efficacy will allow a people to take a particular

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task if they think that they will have success. On the other hand, it is also evident that, the low
self efficacy level can cause restriction in the growth and expansion of one’s skills
(Schwarzer,2014). In case of John it is reported that he is not happy with his work and he
feels unappreciated for his work as well. So from the Social Cognitive Theory, it can be said
that John may have poor level of self efficacy and that may restrict the growth in the skills of
John. That may be the reason that, after 15 years of teaching he is still unhappy with his
work. Moreover, it can be said that, John also may has lack of motivation for his current
work as it is reported that, the people with less amount of self efficacy generally has lack of
motivation towards their work as well. Therefore, in various studies, it is also reported that,
the person who has lower amount of self efficacy, in most of the cases, he or she has less
amount of confidence regarding the job or work. Such kind of condition is can promote stress
among those people and they thinks the work is more harder and they will not be able to
perform it in a right way. In case of John, it is can be also reported that, the due to low
amount of self efficacy (Schwarzer,2014), John may think that, the teaching process is very
tough and he would not has any success in this profession as well. After 15 years of his
profession, he thought that he was unappreciated totally. As a part of this low self efficacy
people also lose control over their life and they starts to think that they has not achieve
anything in their life from their profession. Hence, it can be said that this social cognitive
theory is also applicable for John as he is also very sad and thinks that, he has also failed to
achieve the goals of his life and he is not at all enjoying his work at all. On the other hand
another theory that can be applicable for John’s case is Learning Theory of Career
Counselling. According to this Learning Theory of Career Counselling, there are four factors
that can help an individual to choose their career. These four factors are environmental
conditions and events, learning experiences, special abilities and task approach skills (Meijers
& Lengelle, 2015). The main idea of that Learning Theory of Career Counselling is that the

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career choice of an individual is not only dependent on one factors rather on multiple factors.
This theory also stresses on the factor that, there is no such concepts of ideal career for a
particular person. In spite of this concept, this theory suggests that some one career only can
grow if he or she has the will to learn any skills or a particular work. This will help in the
improvement of one’s skills and thereby motivate the individual to grow in his or her career
as well (McMahon & Watson, 2015). In case of John, it can be said that, he has lack of
interest in the profession of teaching and as a result he was unable to grow in the field of
teaching. That is the reason that, even after spending 15 years in this profession, he has not
developed any interest in this profession and so it can be said that due to this he felt that he
was completely failed in his profession. Along with this, he also started to feel that he has not
achieved any purpose of his life at all.
During delivering care to the patients, the counsellors should consider the ethical and
professional responsibilities as a part of their care delivery process. The issue of ethics and
maintenance of professional conducts are very crucial for a career counsellor. Ethics can be
represented as a reflective practice of different religion, culture, life cycle of an individual
(Sampson & Makela, 2014). In the process of maintenance of ethics, it is very crucial to
follow a few values which are associated with emotional and cognitive behaviour of the
individuals. A counsellor should internalize the principles and values so that they can
understand the condition of the patients in a well manner. However, it is also reported, the
ethical guidelines cannot address all the situations, that can be faced by the counsellors.
According to the study of Sivis-Cetinkaya (2015), it is reported that, all the counsellors
should know all the ethical principles while delivering care to the patients. It is recommended
that, maintain of ethical values will cause development of a good relationship with the
patients. This principles include maintain the trust of the patients, issue of autonomy,
maintenance of non-maleficence, beneficence, showing respect to the client, maintenance of

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justice to the patients or clients (Maree & Twigge, 2015). As a part of the moral values of
counsellor, he or she should follow the ethical traits like Empathy, Humility, Sincerity
Competence, Sincerity, Integrity, Resilience, Resilience Fairness, Respect, , Wisdom ,
Courage (Pompeo & Levitt, 2014; Swanson & Fouad, 2014). In case of John, the counsellors
of John should also follow these moral beliefs during delivering care to the patient. While,
delivering care to John, the counsellor must ensure that, he or she must follow the principle of
confidentiality and will not breach it at any point of time at all. Apart from that, the
counsellor also must show respect to John during talking with him (Gati & Levin, 2014). The
counsellor should apply the process of active listening during the counselling sessions as it
will help John to think that he is also shown respect by the counsellor. The counsellor also
should direct John towards a positive behaviour as he is completely demotivated. Therefore,
another professional skill that the counsellor may follow is that the concept of autonomy.
According to this value, the counsellor should show respect to the rights of clients and he or
she should encourage the self-governing of the clients’ right as well (Savickas, 2015).
Honouring John, will also help the counsellor to build a trustworthy relationship with the
patient and in this case with John. It will help the John’s counsellor to gain more information
regarding to the life of John. Apart from that, as a part of the professional values, the
counsellors of John should follow a few more skills such as maintaining the principle of
beneficence, non-maleficence, self-respect. The value of beneficence refers to the
commitment to promote the well-being of the clients (Bond, 2015). In case of John, the
counsellors should promote the wellbeing of John both mentally and psychologically as he is
facing issues related to his job and his personal life is not also going well at all. His son is
diagnosed with mental health disorder. Along with this, the counsellor must follow the
principle of non-maleficence that is he or she should not harm the client at any kind of
condition (Welfel, 2015). Moreover, the counsellor should show professional ethics of self-

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respect that is fostering the practitioners’ self knowledge and care process of the counsellors.
In case of John, the counsellors should follow the aforesaid moral and professional ethics
during the counselling sessions.
In the context of psychology, the objective assessment is very crucial. The objective
assessment refers to the psychological tests that measures the person’s characteristics
independently of the personal beliefs or taker’s bias. It is reported that, the objective
assessments are more reliable than that of the subjective reporting by a patient. It is very
important to assess the objective symptoms of the patients as it is very crucial for the overall
assessment of the patient (Vernon, 2014). By using this technique, a therapist can assess
personality problem of the patients and this objective assessments are very crucial for the
counsellors during the counselling sessions as well. It will also help to get assurance about
the symptoms of the condition of the patients as well (Bachkirova, 2014). In case of John, the
thought of John related to his job can help the counsellors. Along with this, the body
language of John also help the counsellors to assess the personality of John. From the
objective assessment of John, the counsellor would assess the psychological condition of
John and as he might have depression related problem due to the depressive condition of his
son.
In case of John, during the counselling sessions, MMPI scale may be used to assess
objective testing in different time that is before, during and after the objective assessment test
of John. A high score in the MMPI scale will indicate that the person is reluctance to the
minor and he or she have moral weakness (Morey, 2014). Along with this, it can be also
stated that, the a high score is also associated with the tendency to exaggerate the problems
and they also have reluctance to reveal the problems (Archer & Smith, 2014). So, in case of
John, this scale can be applied as well during the counselling sessions in order to assess the
condition. During the execution of counselling, all of the observation can be applied in case

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of John. Moreover, it cane be said that,counselling John may have a high score as he has all
the symptom of having a high score in the MMPI tests.
Hence, it can be concluded that, the John is suffering from a serious problem and
should attend all the counselling sessions carefully so that , he can have motivation about his
life. The case study indicated that, he is not at all happy with his current work and always he
thinks that, he is underrated in his job. Apart from that, it is also evident that, the counsellor
should follow the ethical and moral issues during the counselling sessions.

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