Counseling Professionals to Advance and Assess their Careers

HonnolDCounseling works with high-level professionals in many sectors and fields of private and government service in Washington, D.C., including private lobbying, legal and consulting firms;  non-profit and trade associations;  and the judicial, legislative, and executive branches of government.

HonnolDCounseling provides expert advice to professionals seeking to advance their careers by improving efficiency, overcoming emotional obstacles, and renewing their commitment to practice their profession at their highest level of competence.

HonnolDCounseling works with many dissatisfied professionals who report:

• “I’m overwhelmed with work.  I can never do enough.  I’m always behind.”
• “I’m terrified that my billable hours will fall short, and that I’ll lose my job.”
• “I would be more successful if I could manage my time effectively.”
• “I daydream constantly, play on-line chess, or surf the Internet for news.”
• “I can’t concentrate on my work.  I’m constantly getting up to move around.”
• “I’m distracted by the constant hub-bub and interruptions of phone calls and constituents in my congressional office.”
• “I’m stuck on my Blackberry 24/7, right through the weekend.  Whenever I turn around, there’s another message from my boss.”
• “At work, I feel I should be at home.  At home, I feel that I should be at work.”
• “If my work interested me, it would be worthwhile.  But I no longer find it intellectually challenging or interesting.  I could care less.”

The “symptoms” of your unhappiness will suggest the type of change you need to make.  Drawing on a professional background in both business consulting and psychology, HonnolDCounseling can assess a wide range of issues that may contribute to your difficulties sustaining high performance, and your dissatisfaction.  

HonnolDCounseling can help you determine whether the source of your frustration and dissatisfaction is actually at work, or in your personal life, family relationships, within yourself, or buried in the unconscious of your personal past.

 HonnolDCounseling can help you understand the reasons for your unhappiness at work, so that you can determine accurately what kind of change you need to make:

• Success With No Satisfaction: You may have achieved professional success but still feel disappointed, because your work doesn’t satisfy deeper needs and interests.
• Distress from Other Causes:  Emotional distress from causes unrelated to work may be impeding your professional advancement and success.
• Performance Undermined:  You may perform well at work, but you could be doing even better if you managed your time, limited distractions, took better care of yourself, and maintained a greater sense of balance in your life.
• Personal Life Compromised:  Your personal life could improve if you were feeling less distressed at work.
• Take this Success and Shove It:  More “success” of the kind you have already achieved won’t make you happy,

Professional issues addressed in HonnolDCounseling include:

• Performance issues on the job:
  • Management and supervisory problems;
  • Stress, over-work, and “burnout” on the job;
  • Addictive and distracting behaviors at work (such as Internet surfing);
  • Personal “boundary” issues (such as over-disclosure of personal issues, unregulated emotions, and inappropriate sexual relationships).
• Difficulties advancing within a field:
  • Discontent with a field or profession;
  • Decreased demand for professional services;
  • Lay-offs.
• Finding a new job:
  • Practical skills of networking, resume writing and interviewing:
  • Lateral transitions between private and public sector, or between legislative and executive  branches of government;
  • Adjusting to changes in salary, benefits and work conditions.
• Identifying a new career:
  • Identifying an alternative profession that “suits” you better;
  • Accepting decreased efficiency and productivity while changing jobs;
  • Preparing again to start “from the bottom up,” with brighter prospects.

Each client has different workplace issues.  Some clients need help with more than one issue.  Other clients need help with a particular issue at one point in time, but will return to seek assistance  when a different issue arises at a later time.  HonnolDCounseling can help you identify which job-related issue is most important and relevant to you, so that you can target that issue and make real progress toward increased job satisfaction.