WELLBEING
WELLBEING
The careers leader view
From his own experiences, Carlo Metcalfe,
lead connexions personal adviser at north
London-based La Sainte Union Catholic
School (and CDI Careers Advisor of the
Year 2019) believes careers guidance can
have a positive influence on young
people’s mental health and wellbeing
for the following practical reasons:
Guidance interviews are person-centred,
unbiased and non-judgemental. They
provide students with dedicated time to
speak freely about their aspirations and
fears for the future, and provide a safe
space for supported discussions.
Careers leaders can introduce
opportunities and pathways that
students are not familiar with and
promote equal consideration of higher
education and apprenticeships,
emphasising the importance of soft skills
alongside academic abilities.
They can also flag up mentoring schemes
by approved providers, plus employers
offering opportunities for under-
represented groups, including for
industries previously viewed as
inaccessible. (For example, Rare
Recruitment’s Ladder to Law initiative to
widen access to the legal profession.)
Careers staff can involve parents and
carers in the decision-making process
helping them to navigate the myriad of
careers choices out there. This may help
offset any pressure placed on young
people from home.
Careers leaders are well-placed to help
identify and support vulnerable students,
alongside other members of staff.
Practical actions could include providing
interview sessions for apprenticeships,
college or university and access to open
days, plus transition support to a new
college or training provider.
The prediction now is
that students will have
anything up to 12 different
jobs in their working life
coaching or even physiotherapy. “The focus
always needs to be on what they enjoy doing
and exploring opportunities around that,”
says Cole.
A subject that has become very trendy and
adorns the covers of many self-help careers
books is the idea that if you find your ‘passion’
then the money will inevitably follow. While it’s
undoubtedly valuable to explore a young
person’s interests, Ros Toynbee, director at The
Career Coach, believes this over-emphasis on
finding your passion can be extremely damaging.
“The problem is that lots of people don’t have
a passion. They’ll feel they are ‘wrong’ in some
way, because they don’t have one. And shame
is the most insidious emotion. I’d just say ‘try to
find something you’re interested in, be curious
and go deeper into that topic’. You might find,
over time, you like the challenge in it.”
Defining personal success
Toynbee believes there are many similarities
between career coaching adults and young
people. For example, the need to reassure
participants that it’s ok to fail because that’s how
you learn, to feel anxious (because that’s
normal), and to reach out for support because
that’s not a weakness but a strength.
Most importantly, though, young people need
to define success for themselves, rather than
modelling it on other people’s ambitions.
Toynbee warns that many clients come to her
in later life suffering from anxiety and depression
because they haven’t done this.
However, encouraging young people to
define their own goals can be particularly
challenging for career leaders where parents
have fixed ideas about what they do or don’t
want from for their child’s future, and the skills
they need to get there.
Pullan has encountered this situation. “We’ll
have parents saying to their children, ‘I want you
to do this’ and it’s often about their own image
and expectations,” she says. For example, if she
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