Attentive Listening

I was drawn to this class because I’ve always been interested in the helping profession ever since I was young. Being able to make a positive impact on someone’s life is very important to me because it satisfies my personal need of wanting to make a difference in people’s lives (Corey, 3). The important people in my life such as my mother, aunt, and boyfriend have made impacts on my life during times of difficulty and struggle that I would also want to reciprocate to others. Their words of encouragement, understanding, and attentive listening skills have helped me more than my own methods of overcoming the situations. As a result, I look up to them and aspire to be able to do the same for someone else in the future.
I decided to take this introduction course on counseling to see exactly what the field had to offer and what it takes to become a professional in this field. My attentive listening skills and genuineness are a couple of aspects of my identity that I feel fits well within this field. These traits are similar to the ones portrayed in the textbook’s portrait of the “ideal helper” (Corey, 13). One …show more content…
I have two more years of my undergraduate program and plan to attend a two to three year master’s program in the field. After that, I expect to take anywhere from two to three years to complete my supervised hours of internship until I can become officially licensed. I expect the field to be somewhat challenging for me because I tend to be a quiet person unless I am in an intimate, small group setting. This trait could be problematic in group therapy settings but would be perfect for one on one counseling. I have noticed this aspect about myself because I naturally do not speak out very often while I am trying to listen to someone unless I have something very important to say or feel strongly about the