The Psychology of Working: The Clinical Context Cindy L. Juntunen University of North Dakota Vocational psychology increasingly has identified the centrality of work in people’s lives. Yet in clinical practice, vocational and personal issues do not always receive equivalent attention, with vocational concerns often being overlooked. With a case study, the author illustrates several factors that can serve as barriers to the successful integration of work and personal concerns. The benefits of integration are then offered, along with strategies that have been proposed to more effectively address both work and personal issues. The author concludes with specific recommendations for integrating work and personal issues in psychological practice, as well as recommendations for training. Keywords: counseling interventions, work and personal interface In a recent consultation with a colleague who is an experienced licensed psychologist, our discussion focused on a client who was having a difficult time making ends meet on a part-time job. I mentioned a local resource that might be helpful, and my colleague replied, “Oh, I never would have thought of that—I really don’t think about that career stuff.” I am disappointed to say that I was not surprised by this response, even though several clients had discussed concerns about work. Like any practicing psychologist, my colleague’s caseload included clients who were struggling with unemployment, trying to find happier employment, dealing with the stress of balancing home and work demands, or any of a number of other work issues. Yet that never seemed to be a central focus of our consultation meetings, in which we typically discussed relationship and inter- personal concerns or diagnostic issues. I am even more disappointed to say that I did not challenge this response. I assumed my colleague was uninterested in learning more about career interventions. We moved on to the next issue, and I failed to pursue opportunities to explore work concerns any further. However, in overlooking this opportunity to discuss work or its integration with client well-being more fully, we missed a great opportunity to integrate work issues into clinical practice, an integration that could have better met the needs of the client. Work in Our Lives The role of work in the lives of individuals is a pervasive one that is likely to grow in the coming years as the landscape of working shifts rapidly and unexpectedly (Blustein, 2006; Collin & Young, 2000). People spend significant portions of their days working, shape their lives around their work, and expend energy finding work when they are out of a job. The role of work in people’s lives provides structure and contributes to the overall social and economic welfare of the community and overall society (Super, 1990). Blustein (2006) noted that work may serve three central purposes: (a) Work is critical to survival and power be- cause it is the means by which one is able to provide food and shelter to sustain life; (b) work may serve as a means for self- determination and, for many individuals, helps to shape their identity; and (c) work may be a major source of social connection. Work is also a major force in the psychological health of individuals: Work satisfaction and well-being are highly correlated (e.g., J. Z. Carr, Schmidt, Ford, & DeShon, 2003; Parker et al., 2003), while work dissatisfaction and burnout have been found to lead to depression and anxiety and often spill over to nonwork relationships and situations (e.g., Iacovides, Fountoulakis, Kapri- nis, & Kaprinis, 2003; Terluin, Van Rhenen, Schaufeli, & De Haan, 2004). It makes sense that many clients come for therapy when work is not going well, but work is also affected by myriad presenting problems. Work is often affected by, and may help to create, relationship concerns. Work may be a source of support for some and a way to avoid emotional intimacy for others. Work may be a major organizing structure for those grieving a loss and may be a causal reason for depression when work identity is lost. In short, work plays a significant role in the psychological health of indi- viduals. However, applied psychologists are not consistently well versed in the knowledge base formed by nearly 100 years of research in vocational and counseling psychology (e.g., Parsons, 1909; Walsh & Savickas, 2005) and its applications and, thus, may not be well equipped to deal with the work aspects of those clients’ lives. Each of the four articles is this special section focuses separately on a critical subject in vocational psychology: work and clinical CINDY L. JUNTUNEN received her PhD in counseling psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is a professor and licensed counseling psychologist. She has been teaching in the Department of Counseling at the University of North Dakota since 1994 and is currently the training director of the PhD program in counseling psychology. Her research focuses primarily on vocational psychology, with an emphasis on advocacy for underresourced populations. A PREVIOUS VERSION of this article was presented in 2004 at a symposium at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Honolulu, Hawaii. I thank David Blustein, Ruth Fassinger, and Nadya Fouad for their contributions to this article and Camille DeBell, Chris Robitschek, Donna Schultheiss, and Linda Subich for their comments on an earlier version. CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS ARTICLE should be addressed to Cindy L. Juntunen, Department of Counseling, University of North Dakota, Box 8255, Grand Forks, ND 58202-8255. E-mail: cl.juntunen@und.edu Professional Psychology: Research and Practice Copyright 2006 by the American Psychological Association 2006, Vol. 37, No. 4, 342–350 0735-7028/06/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0735-7028.37.4.342 342 This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.