Career Consultation: Central PA LGBT Center

John Ashman & Nikki Richards

  This project aims to provide resources and facilitate an open dialogue regarding identity, empowerment, lived experiences, and career development among LGBTQ+ populations. Working with the Central Pennsylvania LGBT Center, the authors were able to determine specific needs of the center and the individuals it serves, develop activities and resources relevant to these needs, and implement the intervention in a group session. The materials utilized in this intervention can easily be adapted for use with other individuals or groups.

Social Justice Needs: Overcoming Societal Barriers

LGBTQ+ populations represent a variety of identities including gender and sexual minorities and fluid identities. These identity statuses have been associated with increased psychological distress (Scharer & Taylor, 2017), symptoms of depression and anxiety (Feigt, 2018), increased risk of suicide (Clements-Noelle et. al., 2006), institutional discrimination (Livingston et al., 2019), and workplace discrimination (Marcus et al., 2020). In addition to discriminatory experiences faced in the workplace, it has been suggested that LGBT populations may have inhibited career development as they process their sexual and/or gender identities through adolescence and into emerging adulthood (Huang, 2020).

The Central Pennsylvania LGBT Center is an organization which aims to holistically improve well-being for LGBTQ+ groups in the Harrisburg area and offers a variety of programs targeting social, educational, and cultural engagement (Central Pennsylvania LGBT Center, n.d.). An exploratory meeting with staff at the center highlighted the need for individual empowerment and identity exploration as it relates to careers. To meet these needs, the current intervention aims to facilitate an open dialogue surrounding career, identity, and experiences in the workplace in order to empower LGBT group members and emphasize individual strengths and ways in which these strengths may relate to career goals and expectations. Additionally, it was mentioned that there are some more basic needs which many group members may not have met (i.e. physical and safety needs) which may take priority over more aspirational career goals. Thus, resources pertaining to food, housing, and mental, physical, and reproductive health are included in the materials so that group members may explore them on their own time and take advantage of any resources relevant to their individual needs.

Theoretical rationale: Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT)

 

The core of our project rests on the ideas of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) (Lent et al., 2002). The core of SCCT rests on the idea of reciprocal causation between behavior, the individual, and the environment. This advantage of this viewpoint is its ability to capture holistic picture of an individual’s work experience. Given that our intervention relies on personal dialogue and a broader analysis of the individual within their career, SCCT offers an excellent theoretical grounding for our intervention.

In addition to reciprocal causation, two other concepts involved in SCCT include self-beliefs and outcome expectations. Self-beliefs are simply one’s beliefs about their ability to perform tasks. In career terms, this is the individual’s belief that they are able to perform well in their occupation. Self-beliefs are influenced by a number of things including: past behavior, role models, social persuasion, physiology, and affect/temperament. Outcome  expectations are an individual’s beliefs about what will happen if they perform certain behaviors. Essentially, outcome expectations can be summarized in the question “If I do this, what will happen?”.

SCCT utilizes this basis to provide three distinct models; one explaining interest, another explaining choice, and the third explaining performance. Our intervention most closely examines the interest and choice models.

• Interest Model: Interest model is the most straightforward application of SCCT and assumes that one’s personal interests stem from a combination of self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations. This implies that our interests are not strictly organic, rather, they are a product of many different experiences and influences that happen over the course of our lives.
• Choice Model: The choice model is a cyclical model that determines what choices individuals make, and if they continue to make those choices. It is largely based upon feedback, perceived barriers, and perseverance. Given the historical precedence of negative feedback and systemic barriers that face the LGBTQ+ community, discussions following the choice model serve as a critical area for career intervention.

Through discussion of the participants multitudes of lived experiences, this intervention provides a basis for an in-depth examination of participants self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations in the workplace environment. The process begins simply with basic questions such as “What is work to you?’ and “What do you expect from a place you work at?”, but further deepens into a broader discussion of workplace microaggressions, perceived barriers, and how others as well as media at large shape our perceptions of ourselves. This also includes a discussion of how legislation in PA and Harrisburg interact, and what impact they have on the lives of our participants. Through this, we hope participants began to examine their interests and choices from a personal and systemic viewpoint that helps promote insight and personal growth.

While this is a broad approach to a career intervention, we chose this direction with the idea that one’s lived experience plays a critical role in how one chooses to engage in the workplace environment. Therefore, this examination hopes to develop critical consciousness, or the ability to use critical thinking to deepen their understanding of reality and devise solutions to problems. Interventions aimed at increasing critical consciousness have been shown to have efficacy in decreasing internalized oppression and increasing collective efficacy (Chan & Mak, 2020)

In addition to SCCT, one of our activities functioned as a modified “Pie of Life” used in Super’s Career Theory (Super, 1980). While the breadth of Super’s theory is beyond the scope of our intervention, the “Pie of Life” represents a way of visualizing how much time one devotes to their roles in any given day. Our implementation did not use the time component, focusing on each individual’s subjective perception of the extent their roles define them as a person. For example, a person who feels largely defined by their sexual orientation or gender identity would allocate a large portion of the pie to that role and smaller portions to other various identities. As such, this focuses more on a discussion of role salience, or, the importance placed the roles played within different domains such as social, family, and workplace.

Resources you’ll need

Physical resources:

• A comfortable and safe physical space to hold the intervention
• Handouts containing information regarding
  • Coping skills for workplace microaggressions
  • Locally available resources including
    • Healthcare
    • Housing
    • Food
    • Transportation
  • Handout information should be made available online
• Blank paper and drawing materials for the Pie of Life activity

Person/System resources:

• One or two individuals with guidelines for intervention (this can be the leader of an existing group)
  • Leaders should be mindful of how their lived experience influences their perception of careers and working
  • Leaders should also familiarize themselves with legislation regarding LGBTQ+ rights in their area.
• A willing group
  • Preferably an existing group that is cohesive and feels safe communicating with one another
  • Has members with a diverse background of lived experiences
  • Has a leader willing to engage and follow up with members

Delivering services

The intervention is intended to be performed as an active discussion with an established group. As discussed in resources needed, it is critical that the intervention be performed in a comfortable, safe environment as well as a group leader willing to facilitate the interactions. The discussion should take place over 45 minutes to an hour, with a 10 to 20-minute break halfway through if necessary. Given that the discussion involves intersectional issues such as microaggressions and discrimination, group leaders should be flexible with the content of the discussion and allow space for emotional processing if necessary. Topics discussed include an exploration of work schemas/outcome expectations, an exploration of identity, the sharing of lived experiences as well as experiences with microaggressions, and finally a discussion of both mindfulness and community resources that participants can use in their day to day lives.

Expected Outcomes: Empowering the Individual

The foremost goal of this intervention is to build empowerment in the participants, and provide a groundwork for continued exploration of career in the group as well as other groups at the LGBT Center of Central PA. Participants should achieve a greater awareness of how their own self-beliefs and outcome expectations were formed and develop a more internal locus of control. Finally, they should have greater access to coping skills and communal resources allowing them to better cope with societal factors such as microaggressions. Self-report data from group members regarding their satisfaction at work, feelings of empowerment, and their ability to better cope with microaggressions may serve as a method of tracking these outcomes.

The Finished Product

 

References

Central PA LGBT Center. (n.d.). Retrieved May 04, 2020, from https://centralpalgbtcenter.org/

Chan, R. C. H., & Mak, W. W. S. (2020). Liberating and empowering effects of critical reflection on collective action in LGBT and cisgender heterosexual individuals. American Journal of Community Psychology, 65(1-2), 63-77. http://dx.doi.org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1002/ajcp.12350

Clements-Nolle, K., Marx, R., & Katx, M. (2006). Attempted suicide among transgender persons: The influence of gender-based discrimination and victimization. Journal of Homosexuality, 51 (3), 53-70. Retrieved from Women’s Studies International Database

Feigt, N. D. (2018). The relationship of gender-based microaggressions and internalized sexism on mental health outcomes: A mother-daughter study. All Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 7315. Retrieved from:https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/7315

Huang, J. (2020). A program to promote career development and counseling services in high schools with LGBT students. In M. A. Jackson, A. K. Regis & K. Bennett (Eds.), Career development interventions for social justice: Addressing needs across the lifespan in educational, community, and employment contexts; career development interventions for social justice: Addressing needs across the lifespan in educational, community, and employment contexts (pp. 61-80, Chapter xviii, 318 Pages) Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD. Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/2348279261?accountid=13158

Lent, R. W., Brown, S. D., & Hackett, G. (2002). Social cognitive career theory. Career choice and development, 4, 255-311. Retrieved from: http://www.unikore.it/phocadownload/userupload/aa01ad538b/CareerDevelopment.pdf#page=276

Livingston, N. A., Berke, D. S., Ruben, M. A., Matza, A. R., & Shipherd, J. C. (2019). Experiences of trauma, discrimination, microaggressions, and minority stress among trauma-exposed LGBT veterans: Unexpected findings and unresolved service gaps. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 11(7), 695-703. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1037/tra0000464

Marcus, N. L., Logie, C. H., Jones, N., Bryan, N., & Levermore, K. (2020). “It’s because of our culture”: Navigating gender norms and coping with sexual stigma among lesbian, bisexual, and queer women in jamaica. In N. Nakamura, & C. H. Logie (Eds.), LGBTQ mental health: International perspectives and experiences; LGBTQ mental health: International perspectives and experiences (pp. 59-74, Chapter xii, 182 Pages) American Psychological Association, Washington, DC. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1037/0000159-005 Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/2303279211?accountid=13158

Scharer, J. L., & Taylor, M. (2018). Coping with sexual orientation microaggressions: Implications for psychological distress and alcohol use. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health, 22 (3), 261-279. https://doi.org/10.1080/19359705.2017.1402842

Super, D. E. (1980). A life-span, life-space approach to career development. Journal of vocational behavior, 16(3), 282-298. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-8791(80)90056-1