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Career Counseling & Business Coaching

In the current work environment many career plans are up in the air. Many have been "downsized" from what they thought was a secure job. Others are dissatisfied with the career they have chosen and may wish to make a change.
At The Counseling Center our counseling staff can provide career and business coaching. They can help people assess their career, and make the necessary adjustments and change of direction. We do this through active listening and interpretation, and administering career counseling tests designed to help people get a handle on this critical part of their lives.

Our Bronxville location is a convenient place for meeting with clients who work in Westchester County.

Coping with Job Loss
Dr. Richard Shoup

How does one cope with the loss of a job? With current unemployment rates in New York above 8% and with no short-term relief in sight, New Yorkers are dealing with an economic crisis unlike anything they've exprienced. The challenge of this economic crisis is particularly acute: It's affecting large numbers of people in a wide range of job sectors.

A number of area churches and synagogues are responding to the economic crisis by holding workshops, discussion groups, and even developing job sites. All of the programs are aimed at providing support to those who have lost a job, are worried about losing a job, or have friends and family going through a job loss.

Recently, the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church sponsored a program on "Coping with the Economic Crisis" with their pastoral counselor Dr. Richard Shoup. Shoup is a psychotherapist, clergyman, and Director of the Counseling Center in Bronxville, New York. His special areas of expertise include people dealing with career change and transition. The attendees at the program represented a wide range of ages, professions, and concerns.

Reacting to a Job Loss

The first part of Shoup's program focused on understanding the anxiety that individuals experience when losing a job. Shoup noted that people typically have five reactions wthen they are dealing with a job loss: fright, worry, guilt, insecurity and dread.

Surprisingly, guilt also can be associated with a job loss, because people often question whether they could have done something different to prevent the job loss from happening.

In the workshop's smaller discussion groups one man worries about the impact the financial crisis has had on his wife because it's necessitated a move from Manhattan to the suburbs. A young woman in the group finds consolation in the fact that since her husband's job loss, he has more time to spend with their young child. And, a woman muses that she can't wait to land a new role so that she can become engaged in meaningful work. but the core component of the workshop was "how to" cope with the economic crisis.