Career construction counselling intervention to promote the sense of calling of a disadvantaged black woman

Abstract

This article reports on how longitudinal counselling for career construction clarified and promoted the sense of calling of a black woman. Purposive sampling was used to select a woman wanting to promote her sense of calling to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable people. A longitudinal, eight-year, explanatory, and intrinsic case study design was adopted. The Maree Career Matrix (MCM) and the Career Interest Profile (CIP) were used to elicit the participant’s multiple micro-life stories and key life themes and to co-author her future career-life story narrative. The data were analysed thematically and reflexively using ML Savickas’s approach. Longitudinally, the participant's self- and career identity and sense of calling were clarified and reinforced. More research is needed to expand the theory base of the intervention strategy discussed in this article (especially in contexts that differ from the context in which the intervention’s theory base was first developed).