Passages: Career ladders for college counseling center psychologists.

Abstract

The stages of adult development set forth by Gail Sheehy are used as a model for analyzing the careers of counseling psychologists. This article traces the careers of counseling center personnel from graduate school days to the period Sheehy refers to as resignation or renewal and points toward several conclusions: (a) The counseling center career ladder is short, forcing many psychologists in their early thirties into other job avenues; (b) the flexibility provided by counseling center positions is a two-edged sword, producing disadvantages in later career stages; (c) reward systems should be developed to keep competent therapists in the counseling center; (d) administrative training should be provided during graduate school for future counseling psychologists; and (e) renewal alternatives need to be developed for burned-out counselors and counseling center directors in the mid-life transition.Growth and change in adulthood can be conceived as occurring in predictable stages (Erikson, 1963;Levinson, 1974). These stages evolve as a function of an intrapersonal life structure (ideal self-concept/life style) adapting itself to a given environment (Levinson, Darrow, Klein, Levinson, & McKee, 1976;Neugarten, 1976). The occupational setting is just such an environment. Given information about the environmental press of a certain occupational setting and given knowledge of the background and types of personalities entering that setting, it is possible to make some fairly specific predictions as to the stages or, as Gail Sheehy (1976) calls them, "passages," that will occur in that career and the options open to the individual in the midst of these passages. This article examines the counseling psychologist who chooses the college counseling center as the first rung on his or her career ladder, projects their careers over several years, and attempts to outline, within the context of an adult development model, the ups and downs and twists and turns of those careers.In preparing this study, the authors have relied upon several sources of information, including data from counseling psychologists' manpower reports (Giddan, Price, & Healy, 1976; Krauskopf, Thoreson, & McAleer, 1973;Nugent & Pareis, 1968; Simono, Note 1) and have studied the output from the annual Counseling Center Data Bank surveys (Magoon, Note 2). We have also introspected our own careers and plumbed our memories for images and details of the hours spent in intrastaff tete a tetes (sometimes called "bitch sessions") at the various counseling centers that have employed us over the years. 1 We will use the headings chosen by Sheehy to delineate the various stages of adult development.

Themes in Therapist and Counselor Development

“…The authenticity-to-self requirement seemed to have been met by these senior participants. Wachowiak, Bauer, and Simono (1979) described the movement of counseling center psychologists into a variety of work settings within 10 years after receiving the doctorate. Perhaps some of this movement correlates with the current compatibility theme.…”

Career patterns in counseling centers: Counseling psychologists review their past, present, and future.

“…Those who do move on tend to make their first move after about 3 years and usually stay in the counseling center milieu. These individuals appear to be jockeying for improved financial conditions or advancement on the counseling center ladder (an obviously short one-see Wachowiak, Bauer, & Simono, 1979). Most early moves seem to stem from the identification of a more desirable counseling center job.…”

“…a With each job position held, the format was to repeat items presented to the respondent. The content of the items was derived from responses of counseling center directors who participated in an earlier study (Simono & Wachowiak, 1980); the authors' presumptions, which grew out of extensive discussions with colleagues who expressed an interest in this topic; and career pattern analyses completed prior to the present study (Wachowiak, Bauer, & Simono, 1979).…”

“…Prior attempts to study counseling psychologists who select counseling center work have proceeded through two stages. Wachowiak, Bauer, and Simono (1979) analyzed existing data on counseling psychologists and the counseling center employment situation to generate a number of hypotheses about counseling center careers. Simono and Wachowiak (1980) began to test out these hypotheses through a survey of college and university counseling center directors.…”

Is there life after graduate school? Coping with the transition to postdoctoral employment.

“…Although only one empirical study has been completed (Cherniss, 1980), there is increasing evidence from descriptive accounts that the initial years of employment for psychologists and for other professionals tend to be highly stressful (Baron, Sekel, & Stott, 1984; Taylor & Martin, in press; Wachowiak, Bauer, & Simono, 1979). One source notes that Most students do leave graduate school with carefully developed research skills and, often, some teaching experience.…”