Joint Action
The notion of joint action between counselor and client contrasts
with the way counselor and client are regarded separately in much of
counseling. For example, about 35 percent of the entries in Feltham
and Dryden’sDictionary of Counselling(1993) concern the client,
whereas 55 percent address the counselor. The entries concerning
clients deal with distressful and dysfunctional emotion and imply
passive processes and negative consequences, whereas counselor-
related concepts often have a cognitive focus and are related to
active steering and controlling. The conceptualization of joint
action between the counselor and client offers the opportunity to
consider counseling as a unitary action rather than disparate sys-
tems. The counselor, client, and others who may be involved par-
ticipate in the same venture.
Most counselors are familiar with the idea of the working alliance
between client and counselor. Writing from a psychoanalytic per-
spective, Meara and Patton (1994) identify three characteristics of
the working alliance in career counseling: goal, task, and bond. Joint
action adds something to the accepted view of each of these. Not
only should goals be explicit and agreed-on by the client and coun-
selor but the notion of joint action also suggests that joint goals can
emerge by virtue of their action together. Examples of joint goals in
counseling may include developing and sharing the client’s narrative,
exploring the client’s occupational concerns, and identifying related
goals and projects in the client’s life. It is important to reiterate that
the counselor’s and client’s joint goals are not determined in advance.
They develop as a result of the counseling itself. These are the dyad’s
goals, which are only in a limited way identical to the goals of the
individual participants; these joint goals are unique and do not con-
form entirely to the preconceived goals of either party. Similarly, in
addition to individual tasks, joint tasks (which will be largely verbal)
arise by virtue of the action between the two actors. Finally, Meara
and Patton’s third characteristic—bond—refers to the affective com-
ponent between them. However, this is only part of the energizing
A CONTEXTUALIST EXPLANATION OF CAREER 235