12/01/2024

Connecting Career and Mental Health from a CIP Perspective

By Denise Saunders, Debra Osborn, and Seth C.W. Hayden

Mental health and well-being have become important topics in career exploration and decision making. Interventions integrating career and mental health support student and employee well-being and career satisfaction. Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) Theory (Peterson et al., 2024; Sampson et al., 2023) offers a framework to explore the impact of mental health concerns in the career problem solving and decision-making process. 

Mental Health Constructs within CIP Constructs

Practitioners operating from a CIP perspective can use the Pyramid of Information Processing (Peterson et al., 2024; Sampson et al., 2023) including self-knowledge, options knowledge, decision-making skills and metacognitions (i.e., thoughts impacting career decision-making) to consider the influence of mental health. Heightened mental health concerns such as depression, worry, self-critical thinking and anxiety may lead to inaccurate interpretations of self-knowledge and/or limit consideration of options due to negative self-talk (Marks et al., 2021). Thoughts associated with decision-making affect other areas of the pyramid (Peterson et al., 2024) and have been found to be associated with elements of mental health (e.g., Dieringer et al., 2017; Dipeolu et al., 2022) suggesting a need to examine individual thoughts and their impact on the process. 

Career decision-making skills, described in CIP as the CASVE cycle (communication, analysis, synthesis, valuing, and execution), focus on the gap between an individual’s current situation and their ideal state. Various internal and external forces can impact the decision-making process (Marks et al., 2021), leading to lower levels of capability and higher levels of complexity. Career practitioners may see this expressed in the concept of readiness in which one’s capability to make a decision, along with the complexity of external factors such as familial, economic, and cultural, impact career development. 

Implications for Career Practitioners

Approaches for integrating career and mental health in career practice from a CIP-based perspective are ethically appropriate (Marks et al., 2021). Practitioners should refer to ethical standards that outline boundaries of competency related to their profession (e.g., counseling, psychology, coaching, teaching) as well as organizational policies as they navigate these conversations. In addition, practitioners should consider aspects identified by Lenz et al. (2010) for determining how to integrate career and mental health in their work setting, including the administrative structure, culture and policies of the site/agency, physical space, record-keeping options, resources such as comprehensive assessments, professional identities of career practitioners, training/supervision needs and abilities, and finally, liability concerns. Ultimately, the client’s best interests, supported by practitioner values of beneficence and nonmaleficence should be at the center of the work.

Suggestions for integrating mental health and career, including strategies for screening clients, CIP-based assessment tools to enhance awareness of the impact of mental health, and specific interventions are presented below.

Screening Interventions for integrating mental health and career:

• Ask basic screening questions about how the client’s career concerns are making them feel, or affecting other areas of their lives (Sampson et al., 2023; Saunders et al., 2000). 
• Scaling questions such as “On a scale of 1 to 10, how anxious are you?” can identify whether strategies for addressing the client’s mental health might be useful (e.g., stress management techniques) or if a referral to counseling is needed (Osborn et al., 2016).
• An intake form can include items related to past or present mental health, and whether they have been or are currently in counseling. 
• Start each session by asking how the person is doing in general, paying attention to non-verbals (e.g., fidgeting, eye contact, energy level) that might indicate emotional distress.
   

CIP-theory based assessments/connection to mental health:

Each of these assessments can be used to identify potential “red flags” for future inquiry.

• Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI; Sampson et al., 1996a): A measure of negative career thoughts that has been correlated to depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns. 
• Career State Inventory (Leierer et al., 2022). Someone who has no options under consideration, especially if coupled with low certainty and low satisfaction might also be experiencing anxiety or lack of hope.
• CASVE-CQ (Werner et al., 2021): A measure of where clients are in the CASVE Cycle that allows practitioners to create targeted interventions. Items include phrasing that can link to mental health concerns (e.g., overwhelmed, worry, feel sad).
• Decision Space Worksheet (Peterson et al., 2016): This creative measure often elicits issues of complexity (e.g., financial, familial, mental health concerns).
   

CIP-related interventions:

• Card sorts -asking clients to talk about how they are sorting can bring up beliefs/concerns (Osborn & Bethel, 2009).
• Client handouts, such as “What’s Involved in a Career Choice” or the CASVE Cycle, can be a starting point for discussion about mental health. For example, “How do you feel about being undecided?” or “You keep saying you feel overwhelmed with this decision. Tell me more about that.”
• Cognitive restructuring. The CIP Workbook (Sampson et al., 1996b) includes prompts and writing exercises for restructuring specific thoughts such as those that use emotional words such as “I get so overwhelmed.” Clients can be led to identify and then examine negative thoughts, consider if there are exceptions to the thought (e.g., Is it always the case that you make bad decisions? Have you ever made a decision that wasn’t bad?), challenging the thought (e.g., Was deciding to come for career counseling a bad decision?), and reframing the thought, (e.g., “I am learning how to make better decisions.”). A next step would be teaching clients to monitor their thinking for negative beliefs, and applying the cognitive restructuring approach when they occur.
• Guide to Good Decision-Making: A self-directed or practitioner-supported guide to encourage reflection on internal aspects and external pressures affecting their decision.
• Individual Career Learning Plan (Sampson et al., 2023, Appendix B). Career practitioners can collaboratively set goals with clients that address multiple life roles and related concerns (Lenz et al., 2010).
   

Conclusion 

Integration of mental health and career enhances awareness of individual needs and potential challenges to career exploration and decision-making. Prior to beginning integrated services, career practitioners should evaluate practice policies and ethical considerations for the provision of integrated approaches to career assistance. CIP theory and its constructs allow for discussion of mental health concerns while also addressing individual career planning needs and objectives. 

References and Resources

CIP service delivery handouts are available here: https://career.fsu.edu/tech-center/resources/service-delivery-handouts

Dieringer, D. D., Lenz, J. G., Hayden, S. C., & Peterson, G. W. (2017). The relation of negative  career thoughts to depression and hopelessness. The Career Development Quarterly, 65(2), 159-172.  https://doi.org/10.1002/cdq.12089

Dipeolu, A., Hargrave, S., Leierer, S. J., Tineo, Y. A. C., Longoria, A., & Escalante, M. (2022). Dysfunctional career thoughts and the sophomore slump among students with learning disabilities. Journal of Career Development, 49(4), 862-874. https://doi.org/10.1177/08948453211000130 

Leierer, S. J., Peterson, G. W., Reardon, R. C., & Osborn, D. S. (2022). The Career State Inventory (CSI) as a measure of the career decision state and readiness for career decision-making: A manual for assessment, administration, and intervention (third edition). Florida State University, Center for the Study of Technology in Counseling and Career Development. https://career.fsu.edu/sites/g/files/upcbnu746/files/The%20Career%20State%20Inventory%20Manual%203rd%20ed_2022.pdf  

Lenz, J. G., Peterson, G. W., Reardon, R. C., & Saunders, D. (2010, July). Connecting career and mental health counseling: Integrating theory and practice. VISTAS 2010. https://www.counseling.org/knowledge-center/vistas/by-year2/vistas-2010/docs/default-source/vistas/vistas_2010_article_01 

Marks, L. R., Hyatt, T., Saunders, D., Hayden, S., Osborn, D. S., & Sampson, J. (2021). The intersection of career and mental health from the lens of cognitive information processing theory. Journal of the National Institute for Career Education and Counselling, 47(1), 38-43. https://doi.org/10.20856/jnicec.4706 

Osborn, D. S., & Bethell, D. B. (2009). Using card sorts in career assessment. Career Planning and Adult Development Journal, 25, 101-114. http://fsu.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fsu%3A543788 

Osborn, D., McCain, S., & Miller, A. (2016). Careers & mental health. Career Developments. Fall, 6-10. National Career Development Association. 

Peterson, G. W., Lenz, J. G., & Osborn, D. (2016). Decision Space Worksheet activity manual. FSU Career Center. 

Peterson, G. W., Osborn, D. S., Bullock-Yowell, E., & Hayden, S. C. W. (2024). Reaching further into a theory of career problem-solving and decision-making. Journal of Career Development. https://doi.org/10.1177/08948453241299349 

Sampson, J. P., Jr. (2008). Designing and implementing career programs: A handbook for effective practice. National Career Development Association. Individual career learning plan available at: https://manifold.lib.fsu.edu/projects/cognitive-information-processing-career-theory-research-and-practice/resource/appendix-b 

Sampson, J. P., Lenz, J. G., Bullock-Yowell, E., Osborn, D. S., & Hayden, S. C. W. (Eds.). (2023). Cognitive information processing: Career theory, research, and practice. Florida State Open Publishing. https://doi.org/10.33009/fsop_sampson1123

Sampson, J. P., Jr., Peterson, G. W., Lenz, J. G., Reardon, R. C., & Saunders, D. E. (1996a). Career Thoughts Inventory: Professional manual. PAR. 

Sampson, J. P., Jr., Peterson, G. W., Lenz, J. G., Reardon, R. C., & Saunders, D. E. (1996b). Improving your career thoughts: A workbook for the Career Thoughts Inventory. PAR. 

Saunders, D. E., Peterson, G. W., Sampson, J. P., Jr., & Reardon, R. C. (2000). Relation of depression and dysfunctional career thinking to career indecision. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 56(2), 288–298. https://doi.org/10.1006/jvbe.1999.1715 

Werner, B., Bullock-Yowell, E., Mohn, R., Leuty, M., & Dahlen, E. (2021). The development of the CASVE-CQ: A CIP perspective on assessing decision-making progress. Journal of Career Assessment, 29(4), 661-682. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069072721999317

Denise E. Saunders, Ph.D., is a Licensed Psychologist in private practice in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where she provides career development, consultation and counseling services to her clientele.  In addition to private practice, she serves as a Career Counselor for the Office of Intramural Training and Education at the National Institutes of Health providing career and professional development services to scientists in training.  She has worked in higher education, independent practice, for-profit business and government. Her publications include articles and book chapters on the Career Thoughts Inventory and applications of CIP in practice. She can be reached at desaunders5@gmail.com or https://denisesaundersphd.com/

Debra S. Osborn, Ph.D., is a Professor and co-director of the Combined doctoral program in counseling and school psychology at Florida State University. She also co-directs the Center for the Study of Technology in Counseling and Career Development, and is a Nationally Certified Counselor. She is both a Fellow and Past President of the National Career Development Association. Her research interests include: applying career-related theory (especially Cognitive Information Processing theory) in research and practice; designing and using assessments and interventions in career services, especially creative ones; and exploring how technology can enhance and extend services. She enjoys quilting, cooking, faith and family. She can be reached at dosborn@fsu.edu

Seth C.W. Hayden, Ph.D., is an associate professor of counseling and coordinator of the clinical mental health program at Wake Forest University. Dr. Hayden’s research focuses on the connection between career development and mental health. In addition, he examines the career and personal development needs of military service members, veterans, and their families. Dr. Hayden is a licensed clinical mental health counselor in North Carolina, a national certified counselor, a certified clinical mental health counselor, and an approved clinical supervisor. In addition, Dr. Hayden is a past-president of the Military and Government Counseling Association and National Career Development Association, both divisions of the American Counseling Association.  He is co-author of Group Career Counseling: Practices and Principles (2nd. ed.) and Career Development for Transitioning Veterans and co-editor of Cognitive Information Processing: Career Theory, Research, and Practice and co-editor of Cognitive Information Processing: Career Theory, Research, and Practice. He can be reached at haydensc@wfu.edu