Vocational Guidance is a general term that includes counseling and support of an individual in the process of his / her educational and professional choices, which suit his / her inclinations, interests and personality. Through the process of career guidance, the young person acquires better knowledge of himself, information about his career choices and develops self-management skills of his career.
Career Counseling on the other hand includes all aspects of the counseling process, as well as all the activities and methods that aim to provide support and assistance to adolescents and young people, with the general goal of their professional development.
As far as, Career Counseling becomes a tool for achieving the goals of Vocational Guidance.
The model of HOPE
One of the key goals set by EXELIXI ZOIS for the first phase of the Counseling Career program is the implementation of the Hope (Hope Action Model1) with the aim of developing and utilizing psychosocial strength aspects (hope, optimism, active orientation for the future, courage, wisdom, spirituality, meaning of life) to the beneficiaries.
The question that mainly concerns teenagers and young people is "what do I do next?”. What awaits them is the relatively unknown world of work and further studies. Thus, they are forced to give answers to life planning questions that highlight ethical issues and choices and determine what makes a life truly worthwhile. For this reason, they need knowledge and guidance in order to shape the meaning of their lives and structure their identity.
Objective of the Counseling Career Program
The holistic approach to the development of the individual, presupposes that no aspect of the personality is isolated or reinforced separately, yet attempts to examine all the characteristics of the individual, without ignoring the role of the environment in which his/her personality has developed. The counseling process focuses on "sharing experiences", cultivating a "healthy" dialogue and active cooperation, in order to make the individual the "managing director" of himself.
The Counseling Career program focuses on occupational search and the range of professional interests, through valid information and professional awakening. At the same time, it focuses on planning the future, developing psychological well-being and managing professional decision-making, in order to provide the beneficiary population with the skills that will help it to develop personally, as a member of the labor market and society at large.
