Counselling is a process of reflection of the clients' needs in regard to the circumstances in which they find themselves. Normally this is carried out within culture - i.e. French people counsel other French people about common experiences. Even in situations where there are immigrants and refugees, counselling is best conducted by members of that community. VOGS seeks to apply this principle to the situation of Deaf people.
However, there are not enough Deaf people available to carry out the counselling process nor are they able to relate easily to the hearing centric rules of working life. As a result, the most efficient means to support Deaf people is to have Deaf and hearing counsellors working together.
This then raises a whole series of issues about language choice, experience and collaboration of Deaf and hearing professionals. Because the VOGS-Tandem-Method could be useful in very different countries, we do not specify how long the counselling process should last nor where the interviews should take place. These aspects may be defined by the counselling team, according to the different situations in each country.
In addition, the process varies because of the different needs of Deaf clients. In a few cases the counselling process could be finished in one single session, but normally there will be at least three meetings. This model tries to fit with different situations: It can be used
Vocational guidance should be more than provision of information, referral to external sources of information or placement in jobs or positions. It is neither a kind of therapy nor education and clients should never be lectured or directed.
Deaf people often cannot use mainstream vocational guidance because of their different linguistic and cultural background.
The VOGS model arises from a perceived need to support Deaf people in finding jobs, retaining jobs and in developing their careers.
It is designed to
The VOGS model can be seen as a basic "philosophy" how counselling for Deaf people should be (Criteria, Aims, Tandem Method), organising a personal process of interaction between counsellors and client until their goal is reached. This interaction is based upon the tandem method, where a Deaf and a hearing counsellor work together with the Deaf client. It includes tools such as interview forms and psychological tests to give a structure. It is not intended to limit the creativity and spontaneous actions of the counsellors.
The model should give a guideline to the counsellors, help them to structure the counselling sessions, to document information, decisions and results. Finally the model should lead to success in the aims that were decided together with the client. The model also shows that employment experiences (work placement under realistic conditions), are very important especially for Deaf persons.