Welfare‐to‐Work Services: A Person‐Centered Perspective

Abstract

Services designed to assist job seekers to leave public assistance and gain employment are well established throughout the U.S. Many of these programs are created and delivered by professionals of higher socioeconomic class backgrounds, but many program participants are of lower social class status. This situation can create "cross-class" difficulties in the design and delivery of effective jobsearch services. The author argues that using a person-centered perspective, with the deliberate inclusion of genuineness and empathy in all phases of programming, may neutralize cross-class variables and increase the effectiveness of interventions. Examples from programs emphasizing person-centered concepts are offered.The landscape of job-seeking services in the United States has begun to look quite different since states have begun requiring many of those on public assistance to move into part-time or full-time jobs (Edwards, Rachal, & Dixon, 1999;Friedman, 1999). This "welfare-to-work" environment is having an impact both on the clients and the deliverers of job readiness services and requires crafting ofnew regulations and procedures for helping clients move toward paid employment. It also requires new contextual awareness and theory-based choices on the part of policy makers and service deliverers. These new demands on the providers and users of welfare-to-work technology deserve close attention from vocational counselors and psychologists interested in contextual factors in the delivery of job seeking and job-keeping services. This article specificallyexplores cross-class issues as they relate to design, delivery, and evaluation of work-related services for clients oflow social class. It does so from the perspective of person-centered counseling theory and career counseling (

A Person‐Centered Perspective to Welfare‐to‐Work Services: In Pursuit of the Elusive and the Unattainable

“…Bozarth and Fisher (1990) claimed, "The [person-centered] approach is one of total open inquiry with no intentions of treatment plans, treatment goals, or interventive strategies to get the client somewhere, or for the client to do a certain thing" (p. 51). In contrast, Lent recommended that career counselors diagnose (Lent, 1996); use structured assessment instruments; administer neurological and personality tests; assess clients' reading levels (Lent, 2001); and create "intermediate goals, such as making suitable career decisions" (Lent, 1996, p. 110). Such interventions deviate from a strict Rogerian point of view, because diagnosis and testing are clearly discouraged, in part because they seek to compare a client's performance with an external criterion, as well as to place the counselor in the role of expert as opposed to being an equal.…”

“…By the time a welfare recipient would have encountered a counselor whose job it was to facilitate her or his finding employment in a timely manner, the client would have typically experienced, for much of her or his life, representatives of other government bureaucracies (e.g., Medicaid, food stamps, subsidized housing, public education, health care) and other public services (e.g., trash removal, street cleaning, and police and fire protection). Lent (2001) accurately pointed out that upon entering counseling, "clients could be suspicious, pessimistic, or anxious; service deliverers could feel incompetent or defensive; designers could be unaware of, or could misinterpret, issues related to social class that could interfere with program success" (p. 30). At a minimum, it would be reasonable for welfare recipients to be aware ofthe possibility that their welfare benefits could be terminated and homelessness, in some cases, might follow.…”

“…Bozarth and Fisher defined "genuineness (or congruency) ... [as] being integrated in the relationship; being real within the relationship" (p. 50). Boy and Pine (as cited in Lent, 2001) definedgenuineness as "being a real person who is not playing a role" (p. 22) and is seen as a necessary condition for minimizing cross-class issues. According to Boy and Pine (1999), clients can perceive a counselor's genuineness and will respond to it by "communicating freely and openly" (p. 88).…”

“…Lent (1996Lent ( , 2001 has eloquently presented to the profession an updated rationale for the use ofa person-centered perspective in career counseling, in particular with WTW clients. Some scholars have contended "the person-centered approach is applicable in career and job-related interventions as an extrapolation of the counseling relationship" (Lent, 2001, p. 23).…”

“…There were three purposes ofthis article: (a) to examine the desirability and feasibility for career counselors to effectively use a person-centered perspective when working with welfare-to-work (WTW) clients, (b) to elaborate on the various roles career counselors might play in providing services to WTW clients, and (c) to expand on the counseling interventions that Lent (2001) and others have previously identified in providing career counseling to WTW clients.…”