and to the immediate action between the counselor and client. The
counselor can approach interpretation by
- Becoming aware of client conceptualizations, concepts, and
constructs - Helping clients become aware of their constructs and recog-
nize those that are workable - Supporting clients in their use of their constructs
- Not abandoning the use of these constructs in favor of other
“more scientific” or “more therapeutically oriented” ones
For example, a counselor would probably prefer to work with
the client’s concepts that may be descriptive, such as referring to
emotional states as warm or cold or using the client’s metaphors,
than to use explanatory concepts.
When used judiciously in counseling, narratives can help peo-
ple reconfigure their pasts and futures and thus make different
action possible (Cochran, 1998; Russell & van den Broek, 1992;
White & Epston, 1990). Narratives are not, nor should they be
treated as, a retreat to unreality. Rather, as Efran (1994) points out,
narratives are of central relevance to the construction of action.
Cochran describes narratives as life stories that have a temporal
organization, synthesize spheres of meaning, and convey a point.
Basing his work on McAdams (1995), Savickas (2001) refers to the
narrative life story that “brings overall unity, purpose, and meaning
to a life” (p. 310). Although such narratives serve an important
function in understanding career, counselors should not expect cli-
ents to begin counseling with such a narrative nor necessarily arrive
at one as a counseling outcome. When using narratives in counsel-
ing, the counselor and client can look for more than one theme,
goal, or intention that might serve to create a tapestrylike pattern
in the narrative. A narrative that lacks coherence can be problem-
atic because it does not enable the variety and range of a person’s
actions to be pulled together. However, a highly coherent or “tight”
232 CAREER CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT