Sustaining the Self: Implications for the Development of Career Practitioners' Professional Identity‪.‬

WHY IS PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AN IMPORTANT ISSUE? Career advice, guidance, counselling, practice, development, coaching: the occupation with myriad titles has attracted much attention from governments and national and international agencies such as the World Bank and the OECD (OECD, 2004a; 2004b). Reasons given include the fact that 'high quality guidance and counselling services play a key role in supporting lifelong learning, career management and achievement of personal goals' (Cedefop, 2009, p. 1). A fundamental prerequisite emerges: 'establishing a coherent and holistic guidance system that is accessible over the whole human lifespan' that 'has clear implications for the competencies, qualifications and continuous professional development of guidance practitioners' (Cedefop, 2009, p. 1).