Infusing Trauma-Informed Care in Career Counseling: Promising Practices and a Proposed Framework

The impact of trauma on career development is well-documented and includes effects on career decision, stability, and unemployment. However, literature on trauma-informed interventions in the career counseling setting is scarce and a universal model for providing career counseling with a trauma-informed lens does not currently exist. Therefore, the authors discuss existing literature on trauma-informed care and application for career counseling. An integrated framework for trauma-informed career counseling, the HEART model, is proposed and includes five components: (a) instilling hope, (b) establishing safety, (c) recognizing and responding to chronic stress, (d) building resilience, and (e) the importance of engaging in ongoing training. Practical application recommendations are offered for licensed counselors to utilize the HEART model in the career counseling setting with clients who have experienced trauma. Additional recommendations are discussed for counselor education training programs, professional counseling organizations, and future research efforts to further integrate evidence-based trauma-informed practices in career counseling.