Rebecca E. Michel,
Strengths Based Career Development with Individuals Experiencing Homelessness
The Fellowship supported collaboration with the nonproft organization Cara to evaluate the effectiveness of job skills training for individuals experiencing homelessness. The study explored how a career counseling intervention impacts employability, hope, well-being, use of strengths, and employment.
The research questions guiding this study were:
How does a strengths-based career counseling intervention at Cara lead to full time employment status?
How does a strengths-based career counseling intervention impact participant self-perceived employability and full time employment status?
Dr. Michel and her graduate assistant collaborated with Cara to design a Community Based Participatory Action Research (PAR) project to evaluate this training. Students enrolled in CSL 454 Career Counseling during the winter and spring 2018 contributed to the project and learned how to evaluate a career counseling intervention with individuals experiencing homelessness. The research was presentated at the North Central Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (NCACES) conference in October 2018.