Career Development and Inclusive Practice

All clients have individual needs, some clients also have additional needs. Knowing how to meet these needs in ways which are safe and comfortable for all of our clients is a vital aspect of inclusive practice.

Reading this book will not only enable you to understand the range of strategies and techniques that can be used to engage with clients with learning and additional needs but also show you how these can be used with neurotypical and non-disabled individuals.

For anyone working in the career development sector or allied areas this book will enhance your understanding of different conditions and how these affect each individual in different ways; improve your ability to communicate effectively with all of your clients and enable them to feel at ease and happy to work with you.

Drawing on the vast experience of its authors, this book buzzes with such enthusiasm about all of its content that it can easily be read from cover to cover as well as being one that can be returned to time and again as a reference source. It is also an excellent tool to use to truly reflect on how you work with clients and to ask yourself how inclusive your practice actually is.

If you are new to working in the career development sector, studying a career development qualification or have worked in the sector for many years, this book will increase your confidence in and enhance your understanding of how to engage effectively and ethically with all of the multi-faceted individuals who make our working lives such a privilege.

It is also a valuable source of information for those who fund and manage provision as it shows how employing professionally qualified staff and giving them the time and resources needed for the role can lead to all clients being enabled to pursue a career path that is right for them.

I am delighted that this book is now available as it draws together so many sources of information and inspiration into one very accessible document and I have no hesitation in recommending this motivating book to everyone.

Claire Johnson, RCDP and CDI, ICCI and NICEC Fellow

CDI Head of Professional Development and Standards

This book is a gentle reminder that inclusive practice should be at the heart of all that we do as careers professionals. Inclusion is about working with the client in front of you as much as it is about understanding a named condition or perceived requirement.

Bringing in a wealth of ideas from contemporary best practice in the areas of equity, accessibility and inclusion, the book takes a real-world and informal approach. This is a practice-focused guide, in which the authors encourage practitioners to pick and choose their own strategies and tools from those they present. Readers keen to learn more about a topic are directed towards a wealth of wider resources to bolster their own knowledge.

Rather than seeing tools and strategies as an adaptation the authors reinforce the importance of mainstreaming these as typical features of inclusive practice. By encouraging readers to continuously reflect on their practice through an inclusive lens, the principals that underpin career guidance can flourish. 

Dr Emma Bolger, Programme Leader, MSc in Career Guidance and Development, University of the West of Scotland