Career counseling has traditionally served as the primary applied extension of vocational psychology research. However, there is an increasing need to extend vocational scholarship beyond formal career counseling interventions and settings, and more fully engage the interface between vocational concerns and personal issues within a broader psychotherapeutic context.
Career development, career self-management, and other work-related processes have long occupied a central place in psychotherapy, given the importance of work and career to identity, meaning-making, psychological well-being, and overall mental health. Ongoing changes in the nature of work have further heightened the significance and impact of career challenges and stressors (e.g. job insecurity, non-linear career trajectories, unemployment, and work-life imbalance) within the broader context of clients' lives. Consequently, many work-related challenges are complex, embedded concerns encountered and addressed within the course of ongoing psychotherapy.
By positioning psychotherapy as a significant context for vocational development, this presentation articulates the need for greater transdisciplinary conceptual, empirical, and practice-oriented collaboration between vocational psychology and psychotherapy researchers and practitioners.