M.S., NCC, LCPC
Naperville
(630) 369-3390
mdcsandberg@juno.com
Career Counseling, Career Choice, Career Transition, Career Development

Services | Benefits | Philosophy | Education | What to expect | Logistics | Closing comments

Services

Describe your services:
My mission is to help you to integrate who you are with what you do. Using a combination of interview, assessment, lecture, homework and discussion we will work together to identify your interests, personality type, generic and transferable skills and values as they impact your career satisfaction.

How does your healing modality work?
We focus on the fit or match between who you are and the work you do. It is helpful to both understand the causes of any lack of fit with your work history to date to release and move beyond any negative, energy draining experiences and not duplicate them in the future as well as identify potential outlets for you to apply your best gift and talents through the work of your life resulting in your receiving energy back for your efforts in more ways than just a paycheck.

How do you see your services evolving over the next three years?
Beyond working with individual clients as I have done over the last 19 years, I hope to add group work to the services I offer. I would like to have the opportunity to facilitate networking among my clients based on shared interests or concerns in the areas of both vocation and avocation as well as personality type as it relates to personal growth and development in the work setting.
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Benefits

What are the benefits/results people see?
My clients often feel reenergized and more hopeful about their future. Some report feeling more at peace than they had felt in years and others no longer feeling trapped by the circumstances in their current work situations.they believed they now had choices. One young man stated on a thank you phone message that a knot that had been in his stomach for 5 years was gone.

Why do people come to see you?
Clients often report their career concerns to include issues like their feeling stuck or burned out. They know the want something better or more out of their work.more than just a paycheck.. They are seeking a sense of purpose, meaning, focus or direction in their work.

Who is an ideal client?
I love working with clients who are open to the possibilities that their life’s work holds for them, individuals who want more out of their work than just a paycheck and are seeking ways to make a difference and bring commitment, conviction, passion and meaning to their work. I also enjoy working with people who have gifts and talents to offer and are unsure of where and/or with whom they might share them.

What makes you different/good at what you do?
I create a space where my clients can feel comfortable inviting Spirit into the career counseling process. Also, although I use assessment tools, I don’t believe in stamping the result on my clients’ foreheads thus labeling them and determining for them what/who they should be/do. Because one’s history, which can effect the results of such assessments, can include behaviors and experiences that are reflective of ‘been there done that’ or can do but don’t like circumstances, I believe that the counselor and client relationship is all about the sifting and sorting out of those experiences to get to the underlying truth of who the client is followed by the identification of those sorts of work that would be most well suited to the client as a result. I am a big picture, puzzle solver who loves this sort of work and process.
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Philosophy/Approach

Describe your healing philosophy:
I believe that we are born with certain sets of somethings that make us uniquely ourselves, and certainly not carbon copies of our parents be it through genetic predisposition, being God gifted or as a result of a combination of the two. Yet it is our parents who have the earliest and greatest influence on us and our behavior, particularly at time when we are dependant on them for our survival. Thus starts our lifelong process of adapting our behavior to do what we perceive we need to do to survive, which may be contrary to what we would do if we were being ourselves without fear or threat that items necessary for our survival would be taken away.

Is it any wonder that we can become adults investing eight, ten or more hours per day in our work lives responding and reacting to the perceived needs and expectations of others as assessed by our thoughts.our heads. only to discover that what we end up doing may be radically different from our unique wants, hopes and dreams expressed through our feelings.our hearts? It is important to reconcile the apparent discrepancies between our head and our hearts. They are both important to our existence, to allow us to survive yet it is the heart that contributes most to our ability to thrive. For those who wish more to thrive through their life’s work than simply survive in a career I believe it is important reconnecting with their heart which can be done by rediscovering their inherent, authentic and God gifted self through the career counseling process.

Describe your style or approach:
My style is facilitative. I believe that you hold the keys to unlocking your full potential, to allow Spirit to work through you and manifest itself in the world. I will assist you in uncovering those keys as if we are on a journey together intent on decoding all the clues that point in the direction of the treasure, the gifts and talents you have to share through your life’s work.

Why do you do what you do?
I am a career changer myself. I remember struggling through my career transition without the benefit of having someone to walk with me through the darkest part of my journey, that space between. Envision a tunnel of transition through the mountain of the self, sufficiently far from the place you’ve grown out of/away from that the way back is dark and not an option. And at the same time you are not yet close enough to the other end of the tunnel so as to get even a glimpse of the light of a bright future. It can be an overwhelming and scary place to be. Where I remember that too, I am committed to accompanying you through your space between.from the what you have done toward the who you will become.
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Education/Background

Education/Training:
Master of Science Degree in Educational Psychology/Community Counseling from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee

Years Professionally Practicing:
Nineteen years.

Contributions/Publications:
I am a Past President of the Illinois Career Development Association, Currently serving on the Professional Standards Committee of the National Career Development Association, Co-Author of Spirituality at Work: Usefulness of Analogy and Questions, an article published in a special issue of the Journal of the Illinois Counseling Association
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What to expect

Describe a typical session:
Each of the first three sessions has a different goal and time frame associated with the work we hope to accomplish. The first session will entail a 50/50 exchange of information between us. I will be sharing with you a decision making model that is intended to help you feel as though you will be able to move step by step toward some very much more conscious choices about your life’s work. I’ll also offer you an analogy for you to use for determining when you have been and/or are being your ‘best self’. You’ll need this as frame of reference for your optimal mind set before taking any formal career assessments, which you will do at home.

Then I’ll be seeking information from you, such as, your life story. I’ll be starting to look for clues as to the human being that you are and always have been, which is so much more than the human doing you might appear to have become as might be indicated by your resume. All that is what you can expect just in session one. Session two allows for career assessment feedback in the areas interests and personality type. I truly believe in teaching my clients the basics of the theories that my choices of assessments are based on. Where so often ‘tests’ end up in a desk drawer for the assessment administrator having failed to facilitate the connection of the test taker to the ‘so what does this mean to/for me’. I don’t want that to happen.

I will work with you to facilitate that connection. Our third visit will allow us to process the work you’ll do at home using four booklets I will give you, two on each subject(interest and personality), validate your personality type, and discuss next steps in your career decision process, as many of which you can pursue on your own or in concert with me as you wish. From that point forward I am available to schedule sessions as needed to include but not limited to work on resumes, interview preparation, values clarification, workplace communication and relationships, team building, learning styles and college major choices.

How long is a typical session?
Generally the first session, though charged at only one hour, usually lasts about an hour and a half. After all, no one can tell me there life story in only an hour, and I love hearing people’s stories. The second session is scheduled for two hours to allow sufficient time for feedback on any assessments you may have taken home with you after the first visit. The third session lasts approximately one and a half hours allowing for the processing of homework and outlining next steps you might take in your transition process. Subsequent sessions are scheduled as desired for whatever time it takes to complete the work we together intend to accomplish.

Describe your office or treatment room:
My office is warm, colorful and lamp lit. You will find it both rustic and a bit modern at the same time. While sitting in a guest chair across from me at my desk you will be able to enjoy a first floor view of grass and trees as well as fresh air on days we choose to open the office windows. There is always hot and cold drinking water and herbal tea available. Plants and a collection of toys contribute to the relaxed yet professional atmosphere.

How should someone prepare for a session?
To prepare for your initial session you may want to search your history for times when you received more energy from a task than you put into it. I would love to hear about those times. You’ve no idea just how much insight that might give me into your personality. Also, you might think about how you are both like and different from the other members of your immediate family, not that I am so much interested in them as I am in who you are by comparison. I will likely suggest some additional things for you to think about at the time we would connect to set our first appointment.
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Logistics

Office hours/days of the week:
Monday and Wednesday late afternoon and evenings, Tuesday and Thursday morning and afternoons, and most Saturday mornings

Fee Range
My fee is $100 per hour and includes your career assessments and materials. There are no hidden charges and no contracts to sign. There is never any commitment beyond any given scheduled appointment.

Take Insurance?
Unfortunately no as there is no diagnosis associated with career counseling.

Cancellation Policy?
I request a 24 notice of cancellation.
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Closing comments

What else might someone want to know about you?
I am a career changer myself. Where I have one foot grounded in the world of mental health as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in Illinois , the other is grounded in the world of work with 11 years experience, mostly in sales and marketing, before returning to school to obtain my masters degree in counseling.
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Donna Sandberg as heard on “Livin’ The Dream” Radio Show

Listen to what Donna had to say about a variety of career related subjects:

Donna Sandberg was interviewed as a guest and affiliate of the Livin’ the Dream radio show on December 1, 2009. She answered questions about the career counseling process, what it is and who might find it of benefit. – Click Here To Download & Play

Donna made a second appearance on the Livin’ the Dream radio show on March 9, 2010. The title of her segment was “Be Careful What You Ask For, You Just Might Get It.” In this segment Donna discussed the importance of being clear and focused when making choices about our life’s work, as well as, the need for clarifying the words we use to describe ourselves in both written and verbal communication. – Click Here To Download & Play