Introduction
This stage involves self-awareness of the gap between the current and desired career options. This awareness might arise from external pressures – financial worries, family expectations, relationship difficulties – and internal anxieties – unrealistic expectations, the stress of uncertainty, and negative thinking. Communication stage signifies a point where discomfort caused by these internal and external pressures transcends the fear of change. During this stage, the individual extensively communities within themselves, particularly through introspection and self-observation to identify the presenting issue. Concerning personal career plans, internal and external stressors in my life have made me aware of the gap between my current and intended future careers. These stressors chiefly stem from anxiety, dissatisfaction, and the feeling of untapped potential in my current occupation as a high school guidance counselor.
A-Analysis (Understanding myself and my options)
During this stage, the induvial determines their personal characteristics, including interests, skills, and values, for informed occupational decision-making in the following stages. From my formal education of bachelor’s degree in counseling (BA), I know that my interests essentially lie in guiding people through conflict, change, and distress. For a guidance counselor, these skills are crucial in helping students prepare to transition into the next, often challenging, life stages. However, the feeling of being able to do more makes me wonder about other career paths, especially those concerning mental health, trauma treatment, and psychotherapy. Along with these interests, I see myself working with clients in a hospital setting, helping them avert and alleviate distress, resolve intra- and interpersonal crises, and overcome mental health issues to improve their psychological well-being.
S-Synthesis (Expanding and narrowing my list of options)
After determining leading occupational interests, generating and elaborating on the list of options is necessary to develop a manageable narrowed-down list of options. This stage involves brainstorming to explore likely alternatives and then reducing this expanded list of options to crystallize them into an executable list of 3-5 options. After identifying that my primary interests best suit the medical environment, I examined various possible alternatives that might suit my preferences. I narrowed this range to four options: clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, therapist, and counseling psychologist.
V-Valuing (Choosing and occupation, program of study, or job)
This stage involves prioritizing the narrowed-down list of options to determine the preliminary primary choice. This process can be accomplished through cost-benefit analysis, whereby the individual compares each option’s potential benefits and costs for self, significant others, and community, with the most substantial cost-benefit margin likely indicating the prioritized option. This evaluation strategy should give me an idea of which choice would yield the highest chance of closing the gap identified in the Communication stage. Consequently, I determined that the highest margin corresponded to the counseling psychologist, which I selected as the primary option.
E-Execution (Implementing my choice)
In this stage, the individual formulates a plan for implementing the prioritized option and takes action to execute this plan. This stage usually involves three steps: 1) preparation program: training experience or formal education; 2) reality testing: full- or part-time employment, courses, or training; 3) employment seeking: applying for a job. Based on my BA degree, the plan consisted of finding the most suitable master’s degree (MA) program in counseling psychology and then applying for this program.
C-Communication (Knowing I made a good choice)
This stage involves reviewing the external and internal states to determine whether the gap has been closed. After selecting the right MA program and currently enrolled, I noticed that my anxiety and overall psychological state have markedly improved. Nevertheless, the feelings of dissatisfaction and untapped potential, although noticeably lessened, have not completely dissolved and probably, will persist until I complete the program and start working as a counseling psychologist. After finishing the CASVE stages, I feel equipped with more profound knowledge, a tested framework, and enhanced self-analysis skills necessary to become a confident career decision-maker. Indeed, as Osborn et al. (2020) report, students enrolled in CIP-based career development courses on CASVE implementation experienced substantial enhancements in knowledge and anxiety about career-decision making and the overall CIP (Cognitive Information Processing) skills.
Reference
Osborn, D. S., Sides, R. D., & Brown, C. A. (2020). Comparing career development outcomes among undergraduate students in cognitive information processing theory-based versus human relations courses. Career Development Quarterly, 68(1), 32–47.