Designing Lives and Empowering Clients: The Case of Sue

✍ Scribed by Erik J. Porfeli

• Publisher: American Counseling Association
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 419 KB
• Volume: 51
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0889-4019
• DOI: 10.1002/j.2161-0045.2003.tb00611.x

✦ Synopsis

This case response centers on the client Sue, a professional mediator who seeks counseling to resolve a conflict with her employer that threatens her vocational identity (M. C. Rehfuss, 2003). P. B. Baltes's (1997) Selective Optimization With Compensation model of human development and J. Heckhausen and R. Schulz's (1995) Life‐Span Theory of Control are used to frame Sue's career development, identify her current control orientation, and assist her in making the transition from compensation to an optimizing strategy. Such a strategy aims to preserve her vocational identity while satisfying the needs of her employer.