Experiences of career counselors in group supervision integrating work-life balance

This study explores the use of clinical supervision in the ongoing training and development of career counselors, as well as the application of work-life balance within the field of career counseling. Clinical supervision is an established practice in the training of counselors; however, there has been limited research related to the practice of clinical supervision within the career counseling specialty. Similarly, there has been little emphasis on the need for self-care practices for career counselors. Work-life balance is an area that spans career and personal issues for both career counselors and their clients. A group supervision intervention including career counseling case consultation and personal work-life balance plans was implemented over a period of eight weeks at a university career counseling center. Four career counselors volunteered to participate in and completed the study. Using a qualitative case study research design utilizing a phenomenological approach, the researcher collected data from participants' journals, field observations, individual interviews, and a focus group.
Analysis of the data resulted in the emergence of seven themes describing the participants' experiences: awareness, importance of work, importance of relationships, importance of wellness, struggling for balance, work-life balance as a process, and learning from others.
The results of this study indicate that the use of clinical supervision in the training and development of career counselors is helpful. Additionally, the inclusion of work-life balance in career counseling research and practice may be beneficial in addressing counselor self-care and clients' career counseling needs.