Community-Based Career Counseling for Women Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence: A Collaborative Partnership

Intimate partner violence (IPV) costs women nearly 8 million days of paid work annually. Greater attention to violence survivors' employment and career development can facilitate women escaping abusive relationships and promotes their overall rehabilitation and healing. A first step to increasing attention to survivors' career development includes collaborating with social service agencies in an effort to translate career intervention research findings into community-based practice. The purpose of this article is to provide a description of an individual career counseling model that the authors use to serve women IPV survivors. The authors review the structure of the service model, the theoretical and research foundations, and describe two case examples to highlight career counseling interventions relevant for women survivors.