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Interpersonal Communication In High School

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The other day, I was feeling extremely upset and stressed about graduate school and where I should consider going and what I needed to do to get there. All of these thoughts and worries were really starting to weigh me down. So, I decided to go visit someone very close to me to talk about what I was feeling, in hopes that maybe they could help calm me down. For the sake of confidentiality, all names have been changed. I went to Jennifer and began to tell her about all of the stress I had been feeling due to graduate school, and I told her about some of the big decisions I have to make in the near future. As I was talking to her, she was very attentive to what I was saying. She showed great attending skills by keeping eye contact, nodding her …show more content…

He has shown signs of stress lately, so, I figured that this would be a good time to try to use my active listening skills. I went and sat by Allen on the couch and turned my body so that it was facing his and then grabbed his hand and held it in my own. I told him that I recently noticed that he has been stressed about something, and asked him if he wanted to talk about it. He told me all about school and how he was not doing as well in one of his classes as he was hoping he would and that it was really weighing on him. I continued to keep eye contact with him, and nod and show him that I was listening. Then I asked him what it would mean to him if he did not do well in this class. He told me that it would really crush him and make him feel almost worthless if he did not do well in this class and in school. I did my best to reflect the feelings he was expressing both verbally and non-verbally and then validate what he was feeling by explaining that I could really understand why this situation was so stressful and upsetting. The text book describes listening as more than just hearing. It says that to be an active listener you have to not only hear what they say but, make an effort to give “thoughtful attention” to what is being said (Seccombe, 2012). I think that this is the hardest part of active listening for me. I have always been the kind of person who listens to respond. I

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