January 2026 Newsletter

"Be the Mirror, Not the Map: Guidance through Reflection, not Direction"

A Message from OCDA President, Website Chair, & Social Media Co-Chair, Kaleigh Mahon

Dear OCDA Members,

Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe that 2025, the year of our 50th anniversary, is over and that we have moved into the 51st year of OCDA as an organization. I have been, and continue to be, honored to serve OCDA and its membership throughout these monumental milestones. As we begin this new year, I would like to thank each and every one of you for being a part of OCDA’s journey thus far. Each of our members bring their expertise, experiences, and passion to serve to the organization which makes the OCDA community so fruitful.

All this being said, I hope you will continue to enjoy and engage with all that OCDA has planned for this year starting with several professional development webinars focusing on topics including, but not limited to, supporting international students, career decidedness, and leadership all culminating to our 2026 OCDA Conference in May. (If you haven’t heard, our Call For Proposals is now live!) The annual conference is our largest event of the year and provides several opportunities to expand your knowledge, share your expertise, and connect with the OCDA community!

As always, OCDA is here to serve you. If you have any feedback, ideas, or recommendations, please do not hesitate to reach out to me via email at mahonkaleigh@gmail.com. Your insights are always welcomed and valued!

Thank you for being a part of OCDA, and I look forward to seeing you all in the coming months!

Kaleigh Mahon, M.Ed., LPCC, CDCA
President, Ohio Career Development Association

Asking with Intention: Empowering Powerful Questions

Your clients thrive when you do.

Community Reflection

What powerful questions have been the most impactful when working with clients (or personally reflecting)?

Add your thoughts HERE

Reflection as an Act of Care—for Clients and Ourselves

This month invites career counselors to shift from giving answers to cultivating insight. By acting as a mirror rather than a map, we help clients hear themselves more clearly—surfacing values, strengths, and possibilities they may already sense but haven’t yet named. The power lies not in directing the path, but in asking questions that deepen reflection and expand agency. Below are some examples of ways to turn some of our usual questions for clients into powerful ones to help clients see the answers differently.

Turning Common Questions into Powerful Ones

“What are your strengths?” → What feels easy for you that others find difficult?

“What is your greatest success?” → What accomplishments do you tend to dismiss—and why?

“What do you think?” → If you were advising someone in your shoes, what might you recommend?

“What values are you looking for in a job?” → What are you unwilling to sacrifice in your next role?

“What’s working and what’s not?” → What would your future self thank you for doing—or not doing—right now?

“Where do you see yourself in five years?” → How do you want your career story to sound when you tell it five years from now?

January is also the time of year where we personally reflect on the future we want to have and the ways we hope to achieve it. The same goes for reflecting on our views of serving others. By taking the time to ask ourselves questions, and allow space for our self-awareness to grow, we create counseling spaces where clarity emerges from reflection, and clients become the authors of their own direction.

Questions for our personal reflection, as career development professionals:

• Where am I tempted to give answers instead of holding space?
• Which client narratives trigger strong reactions for me—and why?
• What assumptions or biases about “success” might I be carrying?
• How do I recognize when reflection is empowering versus overwhelming?
• Where am I finding joy or frustration in my work right now, and what is within my control to change?

Powerful questions invite clients—and ourselves—to pause and uncover insights that already exist, shifting our role from giving direction to holding space and fostering clarity, confidence, and agency.

Upcoming Events

Thank you for being one of our members! As a member, you receive many benefits, including access to Professional Growth and Networking Opportunities:

• Continuing education credits (CEUs)
• Discounts on trainings (Free-$5)
• Meet other professionals through attending events

National Career Development Month

NCDA Poetry & Art Contest Winner!

The OCDA board reviewed entries for NCDA's 60th Annual National Poetry and Art Contest for this year’s theme, “The Evolution of Work: Careers in the Past, Present, and Future.” We have officially selected a winner!

Congratulations to Richard Fajardo for his beautiful entry entitled, “I Remember,” which reflects on how childhood dreams, pop culture, and evolving work shape our sense of purpose, reminding us that meaningful careers and stories unfold over time, and that living and sharing our gifts matters even in uncertainty.

Richard will move forward and represent Ohio for the national level contest! We wish him the best of luck!

View his piece, “I Remember” below:

Taking a look at the evolution of work

Need to think of dreams and goals of the past and the pop culture that was there along the way

I remember pretending to be a Transformer or a Ninja Turtle

Do the right thing, save the world

I remember wanting to play point guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers like Mark Price

Score points and pass the ball to help other people succeed

Inventing something new and revolutionary seemed cool

Teachers in grade school thought I might find the cure for cancer

I once got second place in a science fair for innovating a Slinky with magnets for accessibility

Being an artist or a writer can be fun, at least when done for fun

Keep good records, hit Ctrl+S regularly, don’t rush when cleaning, don’t lose your work

I remember having a Cabbage Patch Kid named Randall

Wouldn’t it be fun to be a big brother or a mentor?

Ponders the youngest child in his family

Tickle Me Elmo, Beanie Babies, and Furby showed me the power of marketing and trend setting

While Stu Pickles showed baby Tommy the importance of taking on meaningful work

It’s ok if you have to sell Consolidated Lard in the short term

Don’t settle for less in the long term

Can you believe that pro wrestlers can tell good stories?

Overcome a corrupt boss or insurmountable odds

I hope you ‘get your flowers’ and ‘finish your story’

We are all blessed with gifts for a reason

Just because you didn’t get what you wanted yesterday or today

Doesn’t mean tomorrow can’t be holding your hopes and dreams

So many clients and students and parents and family members and friends

Worry about not knowing what they or their loved ones want to do for a living

Yet, the reality is, many of the jobs that will be their best fits don’t even exist yet

Let alone the technology they will be using

To this day, that episode of Tale Spin leaves a profound effect

Trying to replace pilots with robots still reminds me why technology needs people

Social media apps may be a dominant trend, but in the longer-term, might be quite forgettable

Your life is the real part of history, that’s the part we do remember

In the day-to-day, it sure can be confusing

Still, for as much as fear and impostor syndrome can ruin a day,

Isn’t it exciting and adventurous to see what tomorrow holds?

So write, type, speak, sing, play music, play sports, embrace your storytelling medium

Live that story of yours and share it

For as much as you need to live it

Someone else may need to witness it, too

Government Relations Updates

Pulse on Ohio

OCDA’s Policy Platform: Ensuring Member Voices Shape Our Advocacy

As members of the Ohio Career Development Association, our collective voice is central to how we engage in advocacy at the local and state levels. The Government Relations Committee is currently developing OCDA’s first policy platform, which will be revisited and updated every five years. This document will guide our advocacy efforts as we engage with elected officials and state agencies.

Purpose 1: Define Our Advocacy Priorities

The platform will clarify which policy issues OCDA will actively engage in, ensuring our advocacy is focused, strategic, and aligned with member priorities.

Purpose 2: Ensure Representation Across Constituency Groups

The platform will help ensure that our advocacy reflects the needs and perspectives of OCDA’s diverse constituency groups.

Purpose 3: Guide Consistent and Credible Policy Engagement

The platform will provide a shared reference point for engaging legislators, agencies, and partners, strengthening the credibility and consistency of OCDA’s voice in policy discussions.

Because OCDA represents professionals working across varied settings and systems, it is essential that our policy platform is informed directly by member input. Your insights help us understand what is happening on the ground, what challenges you are facing, and where advocacy can make the most meaningful impact.

To ensure your perspective is included, we invite you to complete a brief questionnaire. Your responses will directly inform the development of OCDA’s policy platform and help the Government Relations Committee advocate effectively on behalf of all members. This will take approximately 5 minutes or less to complete and will close on February 13, 2026.

OCDA Policy Platform Development Questionnaire 

Thank you for your continued engagement and commitment to the profession. We look forward to representing your priorities and strengthening OCDA’s advocacy work together.

Sincerely,

Sarah JanTausch & Newton Kimberly
Co-Chairs, OCDA Government Relations Committee

Ohio Career Development Association - Adovcacy

Featured FREE Career Resource:

Projections Central (Labor Market Predictions from the Department of Labor)!

Help your clients answer the critical question: “Will there be jobs in this field?” Projections Central, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, provides state-level occupational employment projections, including long-term and short-term forecasts.

Use It To:

• Show clients concrete job growth data for their target occupations
• Compare opportunities across different states or regions
• Guide education and training decisions with labor market intelligence
• Identify alternative careers when preferred fields show decline

For hundreds of occupations, you’ll find employment totals, projected growth percentages, and average annual job openings, giving your clients the data they need to make informed career decisions.

Check it out: https://projectionscentral.org/home

Click Here Learn More!

2026 OCDA Conference

Reimagining Career Readiness: Building Pathways to Impact

Dates: Thursday, May 28th and Friday, May 29th, 2026

Location: Lima, Ohio

Submit Proposals Now!

Learn More About the Conference HERE

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

YouScience

OCDA's 2025 Conference Gold Level Sponsor

Empower Ohio's future with data-driven career discovery

YouScience helps fulfill OCDA's mission by aligning student talents with meaningful, in-demand career pathways. Together, we empower lifelong career development through data-driven guidance and purpose-driven decisions.

Contact ohiocda@gmail.com if you or your organization would like to help sponsor the 2026 conference!

If you have any ideas for membership email content, please email Co-Chairs Ryana Munford at munford.2@osu.edu & Taylor Lincicome at tslocum924@gmail.com.