A Rewarding Conversation

I had a very rewarding conversation with one of my students today. This student is one of our peer advisors and is going through a really hard time right now. She has a lung disease and is in a lot of pain right now because of it. She is not sure what to do because there is only 3 weeks left of school, so she has a lot of work to before then. However, the only way for her to get better is to get a lot of rest. She doesn't have the time to rest because she is so stressed about school. This conversation was very rewarding for me for two reasons, I was able to help her make a plan for what to do and I was able to use the counseling skills with someone who is not a client. Basically, this conversation showed me how I could use my counseling skills to help any student who needs it.

As soon as the student came in I could tell something was wrong, so she came into my office and we talked for almost half an hour. She told me what was wrong and I asked her a lot of questions so I could understand exactly what she was going through. I made sure to ask open-ended questions to allow her to tell me what she wanted. She mentioned that she has had a cough for a couple of weeks and would go to the doctors if her cough didn't better soon. I asked her how long she was going to wait before going to the doctor's. When I asked her that question she made a comment about how she felt like she was in a counseling session with me. I don't know if she meant that as a compliment, but I sure took it as one because it was at that moment that I realized that all of the skills I've learned are starting to pay off.

I think this conversation stands out to me because it was an unplanned conversation. I know I use my counseling skills all the time when I meet with clients and I find helping them very rewarding, but this was different. This was not a planned conversation and it was with a student I work with almost everyday, so it was rewarding on a whole new level. As I'm writing this I'm thinking back to my post about making an impact and I realize this is another moment where I made an impact on a student's life. It may not have been a major impact, but I did help her and that makes me proud. This was such a big moment for me because I just did a post about having a conversation where I wish I did have the skills to help a student. Now that I've had this conversation, I know I have the skills to make a difference.

I think another reason why this conversation really stands out to me is because these types of conversations are the reason I wanted to go into the field of Higher Education. I wanted to be able to help students on all levels and since I started this program I don't feel like I've had a lot of those conversations where I've really felt like I've made a difference with students. Again, I've had conversations with clients where I do feel like I've made a difference, but I haven't really had any where a student comes to me randomly and I'm able to help the student. This conversation really did help me solidify that I am in the right field and I really look forward to helping more students.