Drawing on the Innovative Moments Model during Career Construction Counseling to explain and foster client change

Abstract

Career Construction Counseling (CCC) is a narrative intervention that supports individuals in the elaboration of narrative identity and career construction. The theory, research, and practice of this approach to career counseling has benefited from the Innovative Moments Model (IMM) to explain client change. Similar to CCC, the IMM is grounded on a narrative conception of human functioning, in which psychological difficulties arise from problematic self-narratives that constrain the meaning-making. Change takes place when clients challenge problematic self-narratives and construct new meanings that lead to new ways of behaving, thinking, or feeling. These novelties are termed innovative moments. The integration of IMM into the study of CCC has provided empirical evidence about the processes of client change throughout this intervention. Findings show that the transformation of a client’s self-narrative is associated with the aims of each session revealing a movement from a focus in structuring the past to an increased engagement in projecting the future. Moreover, results suggest the possibility of using IMs as process markers to guide counselors in facilitating client change during counseling sessions. The purpose of this chapter is to explain the contribution of IMM to CCC theory, research, and practice. We begin by presenting the Innovative Moments framework. Then we review CCC process research using the Innovative Moment’s framework. Finally, research implications for theory and practice of CCC are discussed.