Although most of the average person's waking hours are spent working, I have found that career counseling is often non-existent in addiction treatment and behavioral health counseling. Yet, lack of job, career or life satisfaction can have a tremendous effect on self-esteem and become a major factor contributing to chemical dependency and such things as anxiety and depression. As such, comprehensive career counseling services can be an important component in the context of recovery.

In my experience during the past two years alone, 25 percent of those who are chemically dependent have career-related issues that have contributed to their addiction. Perhaps in addition to boredom or restlessness with their work, drinking or drug use has affected their job performance to such a degree that family members, friends and employers lose trust in them and their abilities. Some lose their jobs and, in turn, their standard of living.

Addiction counselors involved in early recovery or relapse issues generally do not address career issues along with dependency because the two areas are seen as distinct specialties. Yet, addiction counselors must help individuals deal with life changes during the transition from use to sobriety, and addressing career issues can help individuals make life transitions more effectively and improve their ability to make healthier choices. Importantly, assessing and/or reprioritizing career goals may bring tremendous benefit to the patient by increasing satisfaction in life, an important consideration inside and outside the chemical dependency setting.

In addiction treatment, at least 25 percent of my clients request career advisement, and the trend is increasing. For example, out of my last seven clients, four were making minor career shifts, two were considering major career changes and one hated what he was doing. A particular 30-year-old in his father's business was in charge of sales and marketing, despite the fact that he is an introvert unsuited for the job. However, rather than talking to his father about his unhappiness with the job, he suppressed his feelings and drank to cover up his discomfort and unhappiness. Personality and vocational preference inventories, along with career counseling, showed that his interests lay in technical areas. Not surprisingly, when he began to explore work in this area, he found new purpose and meaning.

Client Readiness for Career Work
Clients must be free from the effects of detoxification and acclimated to their new setting before they have the necessary clarity to tackle a career assessment. Therefore, the second week of addiction treatment, usually after detoxification or other physical problems have been addressed, is an ideal time to begin.

Testing starts by assessing the two key predictors for career success, namely, motivational patterns (interests) and personality dynamics (traits). Careful explanation and review of these dynamics with the client should require approximately one and a half to two hours. After this process, clients can begin to assess their skills and abilities through a work autobiography and use of tools such as the Quick Job Hunting Map by Richard Bolles, which is published by Ten Speed Press.

The library and the Internet are excellent resources to assist clients in locating and considering new choices for career and employment options. A Guide for Occupational Exploration by the American Guidance Service is an excellent place to start. Also, libraries usually have specifically trained librarians to identify career information and help locate other resource books or Internet sites, possibly discovering vocational areas that have never before been brought to the client's attention. Such excitement can build the client's self-esteem and instill new confidence. Then, key elements of marketing themselves, including development of both cover letters and resumé are added to the mix. In addition, role-play can help teach interviewing strategies and networking procedures, tools that reduce the likelihood of stress, disappointment or setback. As a result of establishing new areas of interest and focus, clients will likely find deeper meaning, passion and greater opportunity for satisfaction in life, supporting the overall goal of lifelong abstinence.

Career counseling may also increase job satisfaction for clients who do not wish to change jobs or careers, helping them to increase personal and professional productivity within their current field. As they learn to concentrate on positive ways to handle inter-personal situations or seemingly negative elements in their work, clients realize that they can build new strengths and enjoy unexpected achievements. Through supportive counseling, the client who has found a fulfilling place in the workplace can establish important ways to achieve greater success and contribution through sobriety and the freedom from substance abuse and/or dependence.

Furthermore, discussion of job-related goals is particularly advantageous in adolescent treatment, since many youngsters who are using drugs may have missed school career programs. Thus, by losing out on the planning years, they have lost the vital early stages of career development, the time to try out new things. These early stages include the self-awareness and career-awareness stages where students learn what is available, how they personally relate to various career elements and how to research potential career paths. Without career guidance at this early stage, young adults will most likely have false starts and lack of meaningful career direction later in life. At some point, they must reassess who they are, gain new career awareness and eventually explore the employment market through career resources. Finally, learning job-hunting skills is a crucial step in obtaining meaningful employment.

Career counseling serves as an effective mirror to the client and helps a person discover what is meaningful in his or her life, particularly vital to maintaining sobriety in the long term. The Career and Life System, which has proven useful for over 25 years, offers key strategies for attaining satisfaction in one's career and an understanding of true purpose. When key components of this system are used within a behavioral health-counseling program or chemical dependency treatment center, these strategies help build both focus and commitment.

Here are some key career and life changing strategies.

• Use Successful Models. Prove that success is no accident! Role models can teach clients how to understand, discover and apply key principles to life and to learn how others have attained success in their lives and careers. This will save the client's time, money and effort by modeling success in reaching career goals. The Path of Least Resistance by Robert Fritz, Unlimited Power and Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins, Guerilla Tactics in the Job Market by Tom Jackson and Pathfinders by Gail Sheehey contain positive models. Tony Robbins has said, "Success is the on-going process of striving to become more."
• Build Awareness. Help clients become more aware of themselves and the issues that may affect their potential. There are more than 160 current therapies that assist individuals in better understanding of how conflicts, stress and personal concerns can be addressed effectively. Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), based on the realization that we create much of our experience by the specific ways that we see, hear and feel things in our minds and bodies, is one of these systems. A good book as an introduction to NLP is Heart of the Mind by Connirae and Steve Andreas.
• Define Your Personal Model. What is the personal career model that clients are using? Help them identify their skills, abilities, aptitudes, traits and other key elements. The ability to market themselves effectively is directly related to their marketable skills, abilities and experience. Having an accurate assessment of their potential creates action and momentum.
• Explore Options. Investigate thousands of career possibilities and assist clients in making the best decision about careers. Maybe they should move from purchasing to the new opening in marketing. Help them discover what is available in any area that has particular suitability and attraction for them.
• Do Market Research. Teach clients how to research the job market, develop a network and build a bridge toward a new career. The library and the Internet can play integral parts in identifying organizations and people who should be targeted. Also, remember that a person who is knowledgeable about a field can make the difference in getting the most up-to-date information quickly.
• Find the Right Position. Teach clients the proven strategies for job hunting and steps to make them work. Although artists, actors and singers have agents, most other workers have only themselves to depend on for marketing and selling their skills. There is a definite methodology in making contact and networking for a new position. Also know that 80 to 85 percent of high-paying jobs are not advertised, and research by Bolles indicates that it takes 1,470 resumes mailed out to secure the offer of a job!
• Create a Successful Career Image. Make sure the client understands how to make the best impression utilizing the three key elements of dress, body language and speech. The number one reason for rejection in an interview is appearance or presentation. The Career Development Journal states that 60 percent of all resumés are primarily judged by how they look instead of their actual content! In face-to-face situations, experts such as Robbins have determined that 90 percent of all communication is non-verbal. Furthermore, according to John Malloy, author of Dress for Success and Live for Success, recruiters can usually make up their minds about a candidate within the first minute of an interview.
• Build Rapport and Communication. All clients must develop the rapport and communication skills necessary to work with prospective employers. Research by Melvin Thompson, author of "Why Should I Hire You?" indicates that employers want prospective employees to have some basic qualifications, but they must also like the applicants personally. The more the job seeker can adapt his or her experience, skills and abilities to the interviewer's mental image of the job, the better chance he or she has of being hired.
• Ask For and Get Support. Strong support systems help create desired results. Direct your client to seek out others who are engaged in the same activity and develop a network of contacts in the field who will provide the opportunity to ultimately support the client's vision and potential.

Many universities, such as University of Phoenix, Arizona State University, State University of New York in Albany, to name a few, now offer professional courses in career counseling and development, and seminars are available throughout the United States through universities, community services and treatment facilities.

Dr. William Steiniger is an addictions specialist with a degree in Counseling Psychology and 29 years experience in the career and counseling field.
He developed The Career and Life System.
Dr. Steiniger is Managing Director of the Desert Canyon Treatment Center in Sedona, Arizona.
He can be reached at bill@desert-canyon.com or 1-888-811-8371.