Career development curriculum (CDC) for the mentally ill

Selection Criteria for a Career Development Program for the Mentally Ill: Evaluation of the Self‐Directed Search (SDS)

“…Two recently developed frameworks reported in the literature were the basis for identifying criteria for the selection of a career development program for mentally ill clients. The two models chosen were a Career Development Curriculum (CDC) for the mentally ill and the Purdue Stepped Approach Model, a schema applied to career development service delivery (Black, Loughead, DeLucia, & Hultsman, 1989;Loughead, 1989). The CDC suggests three goals for career development programs for mentally ill clients: (a) job readiness, (b) effective career decision making, and (c) employment.…”

“…The CDC suggests three goals for career development programs for mentally ill clients: (a) job readiness, (b) effective career decision making, and (c) employment. All components of the CDC, according to Loughead (1989), do not need to be implemented as an integrated whole and may be executed independently depending on the demands and resources of the treatment setting. The goal of effective career decision making was chosen due to program needs and treatment facility restraints.…”

“…Focus on the mentally ill is an exigent issue in career development. A perplexing problem and a controversy confronting the field is the belief that mentally ill clients are neither able nor willing to make a contribution to society (Loughead, 1989;Loughead, in press). Work for the mentally ill has been viewed as an impossibility and as potentially harmful to self and to others (Loughead, 1989).…”

“…A perplexing problem and a controversy confronting the field is the belief that mentally ill clients are neither able nor willing to make a contribution to society (Loughead, 1989;Loughead, in press). Work for the mentally ill has been viewed as an impossibility and as potentially harmful to self and to others (Loughead, 1989). Work, however, may be financially rewarding and lead to independent living (e.g., Roud & Whipple, 1986).…”