THE CAREER COUNSELLOR
A Publication of the Canadian Guidance and Counselling Foundation
Issue No. 4

Winter 1993

CAMCRY Outcomes: Broadening The Scope In Evaluation

As CAMCRY projects near their final stages of
career development activities with their parents, and
completion, it is clear that innovation is extending
the parents began accessing the field test materials at
beyond program development to other aspects of
the school to assist in their own career planning. This
counselling. The close scrutiny which has been part of
sort of parent involvement is likely to have a positive
the formative evaluation of all CAMCRY programs has
impact on school retention. Given the fact that
led many researchers and counsellors to discover new
unemployment rates decrease by 25 - 30% when youth
ways of thinking about the sorts of factors that
complete high school and that each year of high school
legitimately can be considered part of outcome
completed increases earning power substantially, factors
evaluation.
Many of these insights connect the
that promote school retention have a direct economic
counselling intervention with socio-economic or
payoff to society.
nsvcholoeical
Some
psyc
hological ffactors.
actors. some
examples of these factors are
There have also been several
described below.
They
other outcomes affecting direct
represent the success stories
socio-economic results. For
"This is the first time in my life
that often go unnoticed, or are
example, in approximately 10
dismissed as "only testimonials",
field tests involving street kids,
but which in the final analysis
young offenders, and social
that I have felt proud of myself"
may provide more convincing
assistance recipients, the
evidence of client change than
number of participants finding
(Youth Participant - CAMCRY Project)
more traditional data.
jobs, returning to school, or
beginning a training program
In reading these illustrations, it
has ranged from 35 to 100%,
Is especially important to remember that about half of
with most programs providing results in the 75% range.
the CAMCRY projects have been field tested with
One participant who found employment was the first
youth in high risk situations: those destined to drop out
person in three generations of her family to find work.
of school and/or continue the cycle of social assistance,
The reduced time on unemployment insurance alone
unemployment, or incarceration. This makes client
makes these programs very cost effective.
change even more noteworthy.
The results from programs aimed at young offenders
For example, students in over a dozen separate field
provide similar impressive results. One program
tests have reported that participation in one of the
reports more than a 50% job placement rate within 6
CAMCRY programs has given them increased
months of release from detention, and no recidivism for
satisfaction with school, pride in self, self-acceptance
participants. There is also evidence of change in
and personal growth. Participants report experiencing
outlook on the part of participants. One person stated
their school environment as more supportive, increased
"when people are passive about their problems the
peer support, and an increased capacity to see school
problems don’t go away and when they are aggressive
as relevant to their lives. In a similar vein, teachers
they just create more problems for themselves.
report increased attendance on days when the various
Approaching a problem assertively helps you deal with
programs were being offered. Not surprisingly,
it" Another participant removed his tattoos, because it
CAMCRY career development programs appear to
would increase his chances of getting and keeping a
influence school retention in general.
job.

The effects have not been confined to students and
schools. In some projects students began sharing their

To make the economic link more explicit, it would be
easy to compare the length of time taken to find

CAMCRY Outcomes (con’t)
employment for program participants and
non-participants and translate that into additional
dollars earned. For repeat offenders the comparison
would be even more dramatic, for it would compare
dollars earned versus cost to society of reincarceration.
Similar calculations could be made for street kids or
social assistance recipients and the resultant savings in
unemployment insurance and welfare payments.
Some novel outcomes pertinent to career exploration
are being discovered in CAMCRY projects. In the
computer-driven exploration programs, it has been
possible to track the number of different career paths
explored by participants. Observations suggest that one
way to document the cost effectiveness of career
exploration programs is to calculate cost of the
initiative, track number of participants and number of
fields explored, and produce a unit cost per exploration.

CONFERENCE CALENDAR
*

B.C. School Counsellors Association,
"Enhancing Esteem" - Merville, British
Columbia, April 23-24, 1993. Contact
Olive Scott, (604) 337-5180

•

Canadian Association for Vocational
Evaluation and Work Adjustment
(CAVEWA) - Vancouver, British
Columbia, April 23-24, 1993. Contact

Karen Nielson, (604) 279-9799
*

Many CAMCRY researchers are finding that some of
these outcomes are very powerful in illustrating the
effectiveness of the interventions. Collectively, when
we look at such data across all CAMCRY projects, we
get a rich flavour of the impact of the CAMCRY
initiative as a whole. When combined with the
traditional measure of effectiveness, we have extensive
data on the effectiveness of counselling and compelling
evidence of the difference that counselling can make in
the lives of clients. As we expand the limits attached to
counselling evaluation and give ourselves permission to
entertain a wider range of criteria and potential effects
with which to evaluate counselling outcomes, then we
will begin to develop more precise and more efficient
ways of documenting change in these areas.
Bryan Hiebert, President
Canadian Guidance and Counselling Foundation
The Canadian guidance and Counselling foundation is grateful
to Employment and Immigration Canada for its support

Association for Adult
"Citizenship Training" -

Montreal, Quebec, May 26-29, 1993.
Contact Steve Gruber, (514) 547-2010
♦

The main reason for describing the above examples has
been to suggest that counsellors expand the boundaries
of what constitutes legitimate outcome data in career
counselling. Even though the sorts of observations
reported above might not typically be part of the
evaluation of a career intervention, they provide
valuable information on program effectiveness. This is
not to say that traditional ways of evaluating counselling
are not important, but to emphasize that there is a far
broader range of outcomes that, in the past, may have
been dismissed as being too fuzzy or too difficult to
quantify to be used as outcome measures.

Canadian
Education,

Canadian Association of College and
University Student Services (CACUSS) -

St. Catherines, Ontario, June 13-16,
1993. Contact David Jordan, (416)
688-5550
Canadian Association for University
Continuing Education (CAUCE) -

Sudbury, Ontario, June 21-22, 1993.
Contact Monica Collins, (705) 673-6569

JOURNALS TO NOTE
The most recent special issue of the Canadian Journal
of Counselling, October, 1992, Vol.26:4 is devoted
exclusively to discussing various projects being
developed under the Creation and Mobilization of
Counselling Resources for Youth (CAMCRY)
Program. Results of field tests are included from
projects at the University of Calgary, Memorial
University of Newfoundland, Université de Sherbrooke,
Université Laval, and Queen’s University.

Similarly, the Guidance and Counselling Journal,
January, 1993, Vol.8:3 is dedicated solely to highlighting
various CAMCRY projects. This issue was edited by
Dave Studd, member of the CAMCRY National
Advisory Committee on Career Counselling in
collaboration with guest editor, Bryan Hiebert,
President of the Canadian Guidance and Counselling
Foundation.

ABOUT YOU: THE NATIONAL TRAINING
AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
SURVEY
In preparation for the development of a training
program for counsellors everywhere who are helping
Canadians with career preparation and transition, the
Canadian Guidance and Counselling Foundation
recently conducted a National Training and
Professional Development Survey. Sent to over 2,000
French and English speaking counsellors across the
country, the survey invited respondents to provide
information about matters such as: their primary
populations served, their work settings, the types of
training they have received, the types of training they
need and would like to pursue, and the time available
to them for training.
The CAMCRY Advisory
Committee collaborated with the Foundation by
providing mailing lists of their memberships so that the
survey could reach as broad a sample of counsellors as
possible.

In total, 500 surveys were returned to the Foundation,
giving a very high response rate of 24%. Results
generally confirmed that counsellors across Canada are
eager to continue training and professional
development. Over 58% of counsellors surveyed have
completed some continuing education/training (course,
seminar or workshop) in the past 24 months.
Counsellors were given a list of training opportunities
and asked to indicate which they would be interested in
taking. Over 94% of counsellors surveyed checked off
at least one area of interest. Over 44% of counsellors
indicated an ability to participate in training during the
work week after normal office hours (i.e. after 5:00
pm), while 42% indicated a willingness to participate in
training on weekends.
Eighty-five percent of counsellors who responded to the
survey expressed a readiness to learn through new,
innovative delivery methods. Of those surveyed, 66%
had never participated in a training course delivered by
distance. When asked, however, if they would be
willing to participate in such a course, of the 66% who
had never been involved in distance programs, 54%
said Yes.
The main client group served by counsellors surveyed
were Secondary School Youth - General Population
(19.6%), closely followed by Adults/Young Adults
Unemployed or in Transition (19.2%). Counsellors
surveyed work mainly in Elementary or Secondary
Schools (26.8%) and Community Agencies (23.8%).
When asked how much time is spent in career
counselling, the largest group (25.6%) of counsellors
said they spend 90% -100% of their time doing career

counselling; the second largest group (13.6%), 70% 79% of their time. In addition, 84.4% of counsellors
surveyed belong to at least one professional association.
The survey also invited counsellors to rate general
counsellor training they have already received on a
scale from 1 = Not At All Adequate to 6 = Very
Adequate. Many indicated that they had not received
training in the following areas: Cross Cultural
Counselling, Program Development, Information
Systems and Supervised Counselling Placement/
Practicum. When asked to indicate their ratings for
career counsellor training using the same scale, many
counsellors indicated that training in several different
areas was not received. Training opportunities rated
most frequently by counsellors as Not Received were:

Human Resources/Personnel Management
(37.8%)
Career Counselling with Special Populations
(35%)
Employment Counselling (28.8%)
Program Design and Implementation (28.4%).
In addition to requesting information about counsellor
training and work environments, we asked counsellors
to indicate if the prospect of certification by a national
organization would increase their interests in pursuing
training in career counselling. Over 77% said Yes.

Finally, general comments from some of the counsellors
we surveyed help to underscore the importance of
continuing counsellor training. Counsellors indicated
that opportunities in certain areas of general and career
counsellor training were just not available when they
were taking their training.
From this brief overview, you can see that the survey
has generated extensive, and very important,
information. Upon full analysis of the data, we will
have a greater understanding of what is important to
counsellors in terms of their work environments, their
availability to take training, and the type of training
they would find most useful. These results will be used
to help tailor the development of a continuing
education program in career counselling to meet, the
training needs of Canadian counsellors in this discipline.

Liz Hong-Farrell,
Canadian Guidance and Counselling Foundation

WHAT IS QUALITY SERVICE?
How do agencies and practitioners ensure that they are
delivering quality career counselling services? How do
clients and funders know what career counselling
services are reasonable to expect and where to find
high quality services? How can career counsellors
themselves engage in career development while
meeting increased demands for their services?

To help address these questions, CGCF has
commissioned Dr. Dorothy Riddle, President of
Service-Growth Consultants to prepare a manual titled
"QUALITY CAREER COUNSELLING - A POLICY
WORKBOOK". The workbook is a resource tool
designed to assist organizations and/or individuals to
examine quality service issues in relation to the delivery
of career services. Quality of service is directly linked
to how well the service provided meets the client
expectations, and managing clients expectations is one
of the areas which users of the workbook are guided to
examine.
The workbook focuses on two major issues: policies
for the delivery of career services, and policies for staff
career development. The discussions for the first issue
are organized around eight key discussion topics, with
thought-provokingquestionsand a practical structure to
help guide the formulation of an appropriate policy
position. Discussions begin with a quick assessment of
present policies (if they exist) and then provide an
opportunity to address the issue in more detail if
necessary’. Each discussion can be completed in less
than one hour, usually less than 30 minutes. Topics
covered include: mandate statements, clients and their
needs, the range of services provided, standards for
service delivery, client access to information on services
available, standards for professional conduct,
management practices and accountability mechanisms.

Discussions around policies for staff career
development reflect four topic areas: strategic human
resource planning, career development planning for
supervisors, career development planning for
counsellors, and career development planning for
support staff.
Again, users are first given an
opportunity to assess the adequacy of their present
system and then provided with tools for enhancing their
professional development planning process.

Policies, standards, and professional development
planning are essential components of quality service.
"Policy" is however often seen as intimidating and policy
formulation left to senior management. This workbook
helps to demystify the policy formulation process and
provides a mechanism for staff at all levels of an
organization to be involved in articulating standards

that contribute to enhancing service quality for clients.
The first portion of the workbook has been field-tested
in nine different jurisdictions by members of the
CAMCRY National Advisory Committee. The final
workbook is expected to be ready by April, 1993
following additional field testing. The reviews received
to date make us confident in predicting that this will
become a valued and much used resource for career
counselling service planners, practitioners, supervisors
and managers.

Dorothy Riddle, President, Service Growth Consultants
Lynne Bezanson, Director, CAMCRY

CAMCRY TRANSITIONS
CAMCRY is now in its seventh year - four in the
planning; three in the realization. When planning, the
dominant role of CGCF was the pursuit of funds to
support innovation. Once successful, the role changed
to providing support and consultation to the 41
innovative research and development projects underway
at educational institutions across Canada. Now, as the
CAMCRY projects come to successful conclusion, the
Foundation’s role will change again: to promoting the
publication, adoption and implementation of CAMCRY
products.
Two current initiatives may be the harbingers of the
future:

1.

2.

an agreement with Alberta Education to provide a
continuing education program in career
development for counsellors and teachers; and,
an arrangement with a consortium of 23 school
boards in Eastern Ontario to train counsellors and
teachers in selected CAMCRY projects, and as
trainers to help others implement the methods.

These programs suggest that CGCF may become very
active as a national career development training agency.
What about CAMCRY’s continuing role in supporting
research and development? As this issue of the Career
Counsellor goes to press it appears that one of the
greatest needs is career development methods and
programs for middle-aged and older workers. This may
well be the focus of the future.
TO RECEIVE MORE INFORMATION ON ANY OF
THE CAMCRY INITIATIVES, PLEASE CONTACT:

The Canadian Guidance and Counselling Foundation
202-411 Roosevelt Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario K2A 3X9
Tel: (613) 729-6164 Fax (613) 729-3515