Last night I was grabbing a little late night snack at the grocery store. I rounded the corner to make a final stop at the bakery section but got caught behind an older woman who was clearly not as hungry as I was. She looked a little disheveled with a tank top and athletic shorts. Her dyed hair with roots exposed was gently hanging to one side in a ponytail. I noticed some scabs on her arms and legs and with her sandals had on thick blue socks with a rubber design on the sole to prevent sliding. Aha! I would recognize those socks anywhere as the kind you get in a psychiatric hospital when you are not allowed to have shoes.
When I consider this woman in the context of this career development course, I wonder what career guidance services are available to her. Abraham Maslow was a 20th century psychologist who developed a model for understanding a hierarchy of human needs. At the bottom, or the most basic, are the necessities of life such as food, shelter, health, etc. As you move up the ranks, you find needs such as safety and at the very top is self-actualization. I have found most of the treatment models we have covered in class to focus on the client who is in the upper echelons of needs. The person who has fulfilled all of their more basic needs, has the psychological space to consider which careers align with their personal actualization. In contrast, the woman from the supermarket might not have the mental energy to consider such a question when she must devote her focus to buying food, paying rent, and living in a dangerous neighborhood.
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