Is artificial intelligence (AI) encroaching on our professional boundaries? For career development practitioners (CDPs), it is essential to critically recognize that AI is now capable of delivering a wide range of career and employment services. At the same time, its growing presence underscores the importance of discerning when a humanistic approach is not only valuable, but necessary – particularly when supporting clients experiencing career-related distress.
As front-line practitioners, CDPs understand that career work extends far beyond job search strategies. It involves fostering career well-being and supporting mental health through comprehensive needs assessments, collaborative career-life planning, and counselling interventions that address complex, lived experiences.
A critical tension emerges: are we advancing our counselling competencies with the same urgency as we are adopting AI technologies? As a professional community, CDPs are uniquely positioned to lead efforts that resist both the trivialization and the pathologization of clients’ presenting concerns – and AI literacy is must be complemented by a strong grounding in career counselling theory and modality.
Participants will leave with the following skill enhancements:
Innovations and Trends in Career Development
Career Development Sector Leadership and Advocacy
Sonny Wong is a Registered Psychotherapist in Toronto, Canada – who practises career-focused positive counselling. With over 25 years of progressive experience as a CDP, he started his career as a community researcher identifying the needs of marginalized-displaced workers, served as program developer for matured workers/newcomers, and eventually a career/employment consultant for clients on provincial financial assistance. Sonny’s grassroots lived experience has fostered his keen awareness of professional/ethical service delivery practices. During the last 16 years, Sonny has been a psychotherapist working in post-secondary institutions assisting clients to reconcile their intersectionality identities with their career identity. The passion in his work spans beyond his psychotherapist role; he is a lecturer, writer, trainer and clinical supervisor for CDPs. Sonny’s professional contributions have been constantly recognized by numerous national and provincial service awards.
Sonny is a Registered Psychotherapist based in Toronto, Canada, specializing in Career-Focused Positive Counselling. He holds a Master of Education in Counselling Psychology, with a specialization in Work and Career, from the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). With over 25 years of progressive experience, Sonny began his career as a community researcher, identifying the needs of marginalized and displaced workers. He went on to develop programs for mature workers and newcomers and later worked as a career and employment consultant supporting clients receiving provincial financial assistance.
For the past 18 years, Sonny has served as a Career-Focused Counsellor at Toronto Metropolitan University, where he supports clients in exploring and integrating their intersectional identities with their career development journeys. Sonny’s passion extends well beyond his counselling role. He is also a lecturer, writer, trainer, and clinical supervisor who is deeply committed to supporting both practitioners and clients. Through his work, he shares practical knowledge and approaches that center the human experience – helping to address career-related stress and mental health challenges without pathologizing them.