Culturally and contextually relevant career counselling, such as narrative career counselling, assist young refugees reclaim their lives from the grip of career problems that are often systemic in nature and result in experiences of voicelessness, invisibility, and inaudibility. By centering cultural, communal, and relational contexts of their lives, narrative career counselling helps young refugees re-author career narratives reflecting their strengths and aspirations. It fosters a sense of agency and belonging, supporting people in envisioning and pursuing meaningful pathways that align with their post-migration evolving career identities.
In advancing narrative career counselling as a socially just career practice, honouring cultural, communal, relational and contextual influences that shape people's career development is crucial. Re-authoring conversations help clients construct new meaning from these influences, repositioning young refugees' experiences in new narratives, rendering obsolete those restrictive stories that often marginalise and overshadow cultural, communal and relational aspects of their lives that support their career development. While re-authoring has a strong foundation in narrative therapy, its application in career counselling requires further development and research to realise its potential in addressing systemic barriers in collaboration with clients.
The current research engaged eight young refugees in narrative career interviews. First their career development was explored across their pre- and post-migration journeys. Relying on this generated knowledge, they were engaged in reflective conversations about their career development using questions adopted from the statement of position map two of narrative practice. The scaffold of open-ended questions consisted of seven categories: 'existing knowledge, re-authoring, re-membering, mapping of the effects of a unique outcome, evaluation of the effects, justifying the evaluation, and finally, emergent potential knowledge'. Findings highlight the value of re-authoring conversations in navigating culturally resonant career conversations that assist young refugees with career planning and decision making, while honouring the cultural, relational and communal aspects of their lives.