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...community-as-client capacity building orientation to supporting workers in the wake of large-scale disruptions. Drawing on a case study of 2 communities recovering from a devastating forest fire, the authors outline an intervention approach that integrates elements from psychological-trauma theory, career-community capacity building models, and libratory educational practices. Implications of this framework for counselor training and practice are discussed.
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In this article, we describe a framework for working with career and employment issues in the context of large-scale, traumatic transitions. We propose the career-community development framework as a means of addressing the transactional relationship between (a) personal development and employability and (b) the sustainability and economic viability of communities in transition. We elaborate on the suggestions made by Aisensen, Bezanson, Frank, and Reardon (2002) about integrating career counseling and community-capacity building by acknowledging the fear and loss engendered by large-scale and sudden transitions, such as natural disasters (Norris, Friedman, & Watson, 2002) and career transitions (Amundson, Borgen, Jordan, & Erlebach, 2004), and the role these emotional and psychological responses play in an individual's and a community's ability to move toward sustainable futures. The framework integrates the main premises of community development (Frank & Smith, 1999), trauma recovery (Herman, 1992), adult transitions (Schlossberg, 1995), and the experiential learning strategies of Freire (1970/1994) and Boal (1995). We suggest that this framework may have particular relevance in the new economic and employment environments of rural and remote communities where many workers are struggling with the impacts of adverse collective events, such as massive layoffs, closures due to downsizing, mad political and environmental disasters (Amundson et al., 2004; Johansen & Swigart, 1994; Winson & Leach, 2002).
Various researchers have called for a new vision of career counseling in response to the changing demands of the 21st-century employment environment (Lent, 2001; Savickas, 2000) and, more specifically, to the particular changes in the economic and sociopolitical contexts of rural workers (Borgen, Amundson, & McVicar, 2002; Cahill & Martian& 1996; Marshall, 2002). At the same time, the career literature is replete with calls for a more widespread reinvigoration of career theories and interventions in order to respond more fully and creatively to the needs of rural and urban workers across the life span (Borgen & Hiebert, 2002; Storey, 2000). Some suggested changes include (a) shifting to a view of career that integrates career within the context of workers' lives and that fosters "individual development through work and relationships" (Savickas, 2002, p. 384); (b) integrating career and personal counseling in response to career transitions (Amundson et al., 2004; Engels, Jacobs, & Kern, 2000); and (c) developing new--or adapting existing--methods, techniques, and interventions that take into account differences in cultural identity, age, and social location (Herr, 1996; Tractenberg, Streumer, & Van Zolingen, 2002).
Nowhere are these calls for such changes in career counseling and theory more salient than in rural communities. The traditional reliance of rural communities on primary (resource) industries and the attendant threat of economic disruption arising from global restructuring, disease, extreme weather events, and natural disasters mean that workers in rural environments face, perhaps, an even higher likelihood of having to navigate catastrophic transitions (Marshall, 2002). Recent statistics on the health and well-being of rural communities in Canada and the United States already paint a complicated and troubling picture of a rural-urban economic divide, with rural communities lagging behind national averages in employment growth and health indicators (Alasia & Rothwell, 2003). Emerging employment patterns in rural areas also mirror general trends away from resource sector employment toward tourism and service sector jobs, which are characterized by contingent and episodic employment and, for a growing number of workers, a lifetime of job insecurity (Bollman & Biggs, 1992; Economic Council of Canada, 1990).
From a psychological perspective, such large-scale and usually unanticipated transitions can be viewed as collective stress events, or collective traumas, defined by their ability to evoke fear and uncertainty and to overwhelm the coping capacities and resources of communities and individuals (Gist & Lubin, 1999). The long-term and multidimensional nature of the impact of such events as natural disasters creates a cluster of complex stressors that cuts across economic, social, political, psychological, and spiritual domains (Echterling & Wylie, 1999). Because these kinds of transitions involve both individual and communal phenomena, they require interventions that reflect both the unique and shared experiences of individuals and the personal and collective meaning they construct of the process as it unfolds over time.
In the following case study, we illustrate some of the issues faced by residents in two Western Canadian rural communities, Barriere and Louis Creek, as they recovered from a devastating forest fire that swept through their area in the summer of 2003. We discuss the ways in which emotional, contextual, career, and economic issues intersect in the wake of large-scale transitions and then describe the proposed career-community development framework as a strategy for addressing some of these concerns. Finally, we discuss some of the implications of this framework for career counseling practice and training.
CASE EXAMPLE: BARRIERE AND LOUIS CREEK
The communities of Barriere and Louis Creek are situated side by side at the confluence of the Barriere and North Thompson Rivers in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. Both communities are unincorporated, and, as with many small rural communities, their geographic boundaries are somewhat fluid. Although there are no specific population statistics for either community, the estimated population for that region is approximately 3,200 (Statistics Canada, 2001). Louis Creek, the smaller and older of the two communities, is often...
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