{"id":163266,"date":"2020-08-07T10:29:50","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T14:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?post_type=school-college-post&p=163266"},"modified":"2020-08-10T13:28:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-10T17:28:00","slug":"counseling-expert-strives-support-individuals-facing-unemployment-due-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2020\/08\/counseling-expert-strives-support-individuals-facing-unemployment-due-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"Counseling Expert Strives to Support Individuals Facing Unemployment Due to COVID"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, unemployment rates in the U.S. rose to their highest level since the Great Depression<\/a> as of mid-April. Last week alone, the U.S. Department of Labor reported more than 1.4 million new unemployment claims<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Diandra J. Prescod<\/a>, associate professor and program coordinator of counselor education and counseling psychology at the Neag School, is working to combat the obstacles faced by those Americans who have lost their jobs or been furloughed as a result of the pandemic. She wants them, first and foremost, to have hope.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe tend to feel more comfortable and more at ease when we feel a little bit more organized, when we can make sense of things and have some sort of a plan, and that\u2019s what Hope Central does.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Diandra J. Prescod, Associate Professor<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hope Central
\n<\/strong>Trained as a mental health counselor, Prescod has long been interested in career development and career counseling interventions. Her academic research has focused, for instance, on such areas as career development interventions for STEM undergraduate students and for women and students of color in higher education. In her most recent position at Penn State University, she was the program coordinator for the university\u2019s career counseling program.<\/p>\n

About a year ago, a colleague had invited Prescod to join in efforts led by Kuder, a career guidance solutions provider that offers tools and resources to people of all ages on career planning and lifelong learning, development, and achievement. Kuder seeks to support people across a wide range of ages and backgrounds \u2013 from supporting high schoolers in organizing their college application materials to making tools accessible to military veterans transitioning into the civilian workforce or the realm of higher education.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re doing such great things when it comes to career guidance for people in K-12 and beyond,\u201d says Prescod, who has since been serving on Kuder\u2019s executive board alongside other faculty experts from across the country.<\/p>\n

As COVID-19 took hold this spring, Prescod and fellow members of Kuder\u2019s leadership discussed how they might be able to help the millions of individuals confronting layoffs and furloughs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time, none of us knew that much information as far as what was going on, how long this would last,\u201d Prescod says. \u201cBut we just knew that people needed hope, and they needed some type of encouragement during this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result is a new project called Hope Central<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Diandra
Diandra J. Prescod hosts a Hope Central video titled \u2018You Are Not What You Do.\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018You are not what you do\u2019
\n<\/strong>Taking a holistic approach, Prescod says, the team built a pool of resources and tools designed specifically to support people who had lost their jobs due to COVID-19. Within roughly six weeks, Hope Central was in place, offering information on where and how to file for unemployment benefits, a suite of videos for users on such topics as managing stress, connections to mental health services, and guidance on concrete steps individuals could take to gain a sense of control over their lives to the greatest extent possible. Corporations, states, and institutions of higher education are among those ensuring their employees have access to Hope Central\u2019s services.<\/p>\n

Many of those who now find themselves out of work, Prescod says, are unsure about their next steps. \u201cLet\u2019s start with making sure we\u2019re keeping ourselves healthy and keeping our stress under control,\u201d she says. \u201cHow can I start getting that r\u00e9sum\u00e9 organized? What are some things that are in my control now that I can work on? I might not have control over when I\u2019ll get back to work, but I can have control over my health, keeping myself safe, being positive, and working on my skills right now while I\u2019m home. \u2026 We\u2019re helping to expand that view for people so that they can get ready to really get back out there when the time is right.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the videos Prescod created for Hope Central is themed \u201cyou are not what you do,\u201d focusing on the idea that your career is not representative of your entire identity. \u201cEspecially in the States, where work is central to our lives,\u201d she says, \u201cwe lead a lot of conversations with what we do because that\u2019s so connected to who we are. We\u2019re these amazing, whole individuals who are so much more than our work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on our full selves, taking time to explore one\u2019s past experience for transferable skills and learning how to build resilience against stress are all key to maintaining hope right now, according to Prescod.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople need hope, and they need to know what their options are,\u201d she says. \u201cWe tend to feel more comfortable and more at ease when we feel a little bit more organized, when we can make sense of things and have some sort of a plan, and that\u2019s what Hope Central does.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot overstate my appreciation for how Dr. Prescod has hit the ground running since we began our collaboration earlier this year,\u201d says Phil Harrington, chairman and CEO of Kuder. \u201cShe has had a profound impact on our organization in terms of providing guidance and strategic direction in developing career planning solutions and self-care tools for individuals of all ages and life stages, across the globe. We rely on her not only as a sounding board and resource for the latest research, but for the countless ways that she contributes valuable insights and knowledge. In short, Dr. Prescod ensures that Kuder takes an inclusive approach in order to serve a much larger population of individuals than ever before, and in a meaningful and holistic way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018I want\u00a0people to feel heard\u2019
\n<\/strong>Prescod and her colleagues are now looking to expand Hope Central to a new level, examining research findings in order to making the project more intentional as they plan for phase two.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that COVID has disproportionately affected certain populations,\u201d says Prescod, noting such examples as a 25% increase in domestic violence<\/a> since the start of the outbreak, the disproportionate effect on unemployment numbers among Latinx populations<\/a>, and race gaps in COVID-19 deaths<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Parents, meanwhile, may also be grappling with their children\u2019s own sense of uncertainty or anxiety. Sustaining open communication, giving kids encouragement that acknowledges their talents or interests, and finding ways to expand kids\u2019 options \u2014 for example, by introducing them to new books where they can find connections between themselves and others \u2014 can all have a positive impact, Prescod says. \u201cWith children being home a lot more, they still need to be able to engage and continue to connect with others,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re paying attention to the research that is coming out and then continuing to tailor what Hope Central looks like to make sure that people can see themselves represented and heard through the content that we\u2019re creating,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, she and her Hope Central partners are striving to reach hundreds of thousands of people with the resources they have been developing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you\u2019re a person of color who\u2019s been disproportionately affected, someone who thought they\u2019d be retiring soon and has to rethink that, or someone feeling really alone in a situation where domestic violence is present, I want all of those individuals to feel represented,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s part of what we\u2019re working on. I want people to feel heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more about <\/em>Diandra J. Prescod\u2019s work<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, unemployment rates in the U.S. rose to their highest level since the Great Depression as of mid-April. Last week alone, the U.S. Department of Labor reported more than 1.4 million new unemployment claims.<\/p>\n

Diandra J. Prescod, associate professor and program coordinator of counselor education and counseling psychology at the Neag School, is working to combat the obstacles faced by those Americans who have lost their jobs or been furloughed as a result of the pandemic. She wants them, first and foremost, to have hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":163267,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1855],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1878],"class_list":["post-163266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-neag"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 00:59:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/163267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163266"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=163266"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=163266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}