مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

The three research questions will organize the analysis of the two CCI’s as well as of the IPR interviews which followed. We begin by identifying a change that occurred in one or both of the interviews, either a change that was recognized by the client, by the counselor, or by the authors. Then we examine what might have brought about this change and whether and how reflexivity may have been fostered and developed. In a final section, we will discuss how a greater awareness in the counselor of the resources of literary analysis, in this case the narrative semiotics of A.J. Greimas (1966, 1987), can allow her/him to extract more useful information out of the material given by the counselee, and make the CCI session more effective.

Despite the brevity of an only one-hour intervention, both clients experienced change. Though they are still far from having made a plan for the future, they nevertheless have opened up a path towards a solution, are reflecting on themselves in relation to their choice of an education, and have found new energy to tackle the task of choosing a career-path.

The first change was experienced and identified by both clients. Previously, they had felt themselves to be blocked in an inbetween situation: in Indíana’s case, a course of study which was a second choice and of which she was uncertain; in Thelma’s having taken the decision to quit a course of study which did not suit her without knowing exactly where to go from there. The simple fact of sitting down with someone to talk was in itself a relief and the first step towards getting out of this situation. This is a change that would be common to most methods of counseling. However, the CCI method has the advantage of avoiding the abruptness and anxiety of the question of a future career and offering instead an exercise which is a bit like a game, inherently pleasurable but which also involves recalling enjoyable moments. Replacing anxiety with pleasure is a good way to foster reflexivity as it turns the difficult task of making a choice into a pleasant and exciting process.