The problem of the question in Vocational Guidance

This article aims to address a problem that usually occurs within the consultation for Vocational Guidance. Adolescents with choice opportunities, with basic (and not so basic) needs satisfied, people who consider themselves to belong to more "privileged" sectors and who decide to consult (or are taken to consult) with a vocational counselor but with a closed question.

This question can be presented in the form of demotivation or ignorance, waiting for a response from the counseling psychologist, or quite the opposite. With a very clear conscious choice, but obviously at an unconscious level something makes noise and motivates consultation.

What interventions would be appropriate in these situations to be able to initially open space for questioning and the doubt, to then set in motion a search work on the part of the consultant assisted by the counselor?

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Working from the initial question in Vocational Guidance

Seeing the problem from this perspective, we speak of a "psycho-educational, preventive and community approach focused on the development of the subject and on the learning and appropriation of the tools that allow them to develop the symbolic capacities necessary to better face the transitions". (Aisenson, 2007, p.78)

Approaching the problem from this perspective puts the consultant in the center of study in a holistic way (his psyche, his context, his way of responding to conflicts); therefore, it is essential to inquire about the transitions that the person himself has made and what resources he has acquired to go through them.

Could the subjects exemplified in this work be considered to be in transition? Do they perceive it as such? I understand transition according to Schlossberg's definition as an "event or non-event (that) results in a change in the assumptions about oneself and the world and therefore requires a change in the behavior and relationships of each one". (Schlossberg, 1981, p.7)

It is from this inquiry that space can be opened for the question to arise from the consultant's side, since If there is no uncertainty or questioning, it cannot be said that there is a perception that there is a transition. Something is going to stop being what it was to be something different. It is by opening questions towards the idea that they are in a moment of change that could give rise to the doubt that sets the search in motion.

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Favoring the appearance of an interest

Thinking about some possible interventions, you could investigate and highlight the representations that these people have about the future of work and school, about their environment and about themselves. The objective of the interventions is to generate something new, a doubt, an interest, but that knowledge must come from the subject.

Some possible interventions to carry out could be to investigate the affect that accompanies the transition, if there is anxiety, emotion, apathy. The one who occupies the role of counseling psychologist can channel these emotions into activities that are positive for the consultant (“what do you imagine yourself doing in your role as…?”, “in what field do you imagine yourself working?”, “what do you think the exams could be like?”... questions that can lead to imagine the role of the student).

On the side of the environment, it can be ascertained whether it acts as economic and psychological support or as an obstacle.. It is not only about the family living together, but also about the network of friends. If you share your enthusiasm or dis-enthusiasm for the future and the possibilities that open up with it. If there are mandates to fulfill and work on the representations that circulate in the family and group of friends about the professions.

Finally, in relation to the characteristics of the individual, psychosocial competence, how the individual relates to the factors that come from abroad, as well as the study of previous experiences in other transitions, it is fundamental. These teenagers have traveled in their lives and have adapted more or less successfully. Establish which strategies have worked for them and which would not be relevant for a guiding project.