- Consists of three parts
- Approaching the transition
- Transition identification and process
- Identifying coping resources
- Emphasizing strategies that can be used to take charge of the transition
- Approaching Transitions
- Types of transitions
- Anticipated (events that occur as part of one's life cycle)
- Unanticipated (events that are not predictable)
- Nonevent (events that were anticipated and planned by that did not happen)
- Must be considered in context for the client
- Must assess where client is in Transition Process
- Situation and the self influence transition
- Support - Must assess assets that the client has in social support
- Strategies - An individual's ability to cope with transitions depends on the changing interaction and balance of his or her assets and liabilities
- Race/Gender based
- Behavior is a result of a combination of factors at the individual, interpersonal, and broader socioeconomic levels
- Behavior described as an "act-in-context" - context in necessary in determining the meaning behind an individual's behavior
- Used in past when considering evolution of women in the workplace
- Based on ecological theory developed by Bronfenbrenner
- Microsystem - interpersonal interactions within a given environment (home, school, work, etc)
- Mesosystem - interaction between one or more microsystems (ex: work and school)
- Exosystem - linkages between subsystems that indirectly influence the individual (one's neighborhood, the media, etc)
- Macrosystem - ideological components of a given society (norms, values, etc)
- Each of these interacts with other systems at all times
- Clients bring their ecosystems into counseling by conveying how they understand and react to their circumstances
