Investigating Your Motives For Becoming A Helper

Buddha once said, “If you light a lamp for someone else it will also brighten your path”. The purpose of helping is to assist others in learning to overcome and/or cope with the problems they face in every day life. Those providing the help often do so to feel a sense of purpose by making a positive impact on other’s lives. In terms of human services, helping comes from working professionals who possess the knowledge and expertise to effectively provide services to those in need. In order to better understand the helping

For the past three years of my high school career, and now my fourth, I have made it an obligation to continually expand my horizons in regards to math; when I cannot fully grasp an idea or concept, rather than giving up, I relentlessly pursue the idea until it is understood. During freshman year, math did not come easily to me. I was forced to go in early some days because, simply, I did not comprehend the concepts. However, taking initiative with my school work, and constantly working through problems that were difficult can be deemed one of the best decisions I have made. Although my final grade may not have been an

Looking back, I was lucky to have the teachers I had. Most of them would try to help me, but didn’t know how to. There was something about the way the school was designed that it just didn’t work for me. The summer after my 8th-grade year was when I realized I needed to try a different form of education.

What is your main motivation for wanting to be a helper? What personal needs of yours are likely to be met through your work as a helper? My motivation for being a helper is to make a change.

Maturing as a young adult I realize the importance to others and myself to help people. The task could even be

These workers can assist an individual or group in crisis by providing direct intervention, by identifying alternative coping skills, or by consulting with others. A helper's primary goals in a crisis are to identify, assess, and intervene; to return the individual to his/her prior level of functioning as quickly as possible; and to lessen any negative impact on future mental health. Sometimes during this process, new skills and coping mechanisms are acquired, resulting in change (Sandoval, 1988).

After all, math was one of my best subjects. I had never really had an experience where I just couldn't understand the concept of a math problem, of how it was solved and why. Our teachers has warned us back in elementary school, that one day we would hit an invisible wall and not ease through classes. That one day we would struggle with understanding a problem, a concept or even a subject. I had never believed them, thinking this would never happen to me, that I could somehow avoid this wall of confusion and just walk right through. But there I was, utterly confused and frustrated at a simple problem that everyone else could solve. Why was I not seeing it? Why couldn't I understand the solution? I asked myself. For the first time in my life I really struggled to get an A in a class. I had my sister tutor me almost every day, preparing for a quiz and then the next, and the next. I came in to my teacher for lunch and he helped me step by step. I studied for tests, and worked hard. And my work payed off. I got a high A in the course, and a lot of experience from it. It taught me how to work hard for something, to earn a good grade when you deserve it, and it gave me the skills I needed to get As in the high school classes I am taking this

My first failure discouraged me to the point where, I felt like I would never reach an advanced math level again. The lack of self-confidence that resulted from my sub-par math scores soon began to negatively affect some of my other classes. I quickly realized that the trend had to stop. I worked diligently to achieve what, at the time, seemed unattainable. My change in the outlook of my repeated failures helped me to finally succeed. Throughout the course of the last two years, I have grown more self-aware in my study habits. I push myself even harder when I think I have done the best I can.

There has always been a desire for in me to help others who can be in difficult situations or in need of help. This desire has pushed me to pursue a career within the social work field. There have been numerous instances in my life, where I took the chance to help others before helping myself. Whether these instances dealt with my family, friends, peers or strangers, I have always seen the worth in helping others. Putting others before myself has always been an enjoying experience because I am able to be selfless and provide opportunities to others who might not have the resources or help to do so. Knowing that I can have a great impact on others’ lives by directing them to resources or listening to their experiences excites me because I want

Due to my involvement in every math and science related activity at my school, my ability in these areas often overshadows everything else. Since freshman year, many of my classmates have only talked to me for help with their math or their science homework. Many times, I feel cheated and only viewed as a way to better understand their homework. Over time, I realized that this outtake on this situation was selfish. Instead, I have realized this predicament comes from people not realizing my best quality. My helpfulness is what is often overlooked by others.

Not only are you investing your money, but also your time and work. You want to pass your classes and get the credits to move on to continue seeking your desired degree. I have never had a natural ability with math so when it was time to take a math class, I was terrified of the outcome. Statistics was the class I would be devoting all my time and energy in. When completing assignments and participating in class discussions, everyone seemed to know what to do and how to do it while I was struggling in getting an understanding of what they were speaking about. I chose to stay quiet and pretend like I knew what I was doing just like everyone else instead of admitting that I was failing the course. I was embarrassed to ask for help because that meant that I had been failing when all this time I had pretended to be successful. By me not seeking help when I needed it, it portrayed an image that I didn't care but also that I was okay with failing; something I feared in the first place. At the end of the semester I realized I had failed the course because I was too stubborn to acknowledge my own mistakes and learn from them. My blunders could have been avoided if I would have worried less about what my classmates would think of my failures rather than focusing on actually learning. I took the same class with the same professor the next semester and I was determined to make a change. I accepted the fact that this was a new topic for me and that it was okay to make mistakes but it was not okay to hide a mistake with another mistake. I learned to learn from my mistakes and take each problem one step at a

One of the biggest challenges I’ve had in my academic carrier is when I started to take my upper division math courses. Math has always been my strongest subject and I particularly never asked for help. When it came to calculus III however, I started to get D’s and F’s on my assignments and exams. Things progressively got worse and my grades started to drop; I had no choice but to turn to my professor to help. My professor was willing to help any way he could, providing further insight and understanding on the subjects at hand. He gave it to me straight, if you want to master something you must put the time and effort into what your doing and utilize all your resources. Throughout the semester, my professor would meet with me for 3 hours every

As a mathematics major, the concept that most people overlook is that I did not choose to study mathematics because I do well at it; I chose to study mathematics because it makes me smarter. In fact, all throughout junior high and high school I was in remedial mathematics classes and worse, I did not even place into a freshman year mathematics class in high school. I had to re-take 8th grade mathematics. However, something about mathematics excited me. Maybe it was the fact that mathematics never came easy to me and I wanted to prove to myself that not only could I pass mathematics classes, I could actually understand and excel at them. For me, mathematics is not about the arbitrary numbers, trivial solutions, meaningless formulas, or repetitive computation: it is about the progress of knowledge and human understanding.

1. To observe and rationalize our motivations and needs for becoming helpers can help us

It is quite remarkable to see the skills I have learnt put into action with individuals I encounter in my every day dealings. By implementing the basic counselling skills learnt, it has aided me in being a better person and also laid the foundations for my future career. Many skills were used in a variety of situations in the past quarter of a year, however, only a brief description of a few will be discussed below. It is simpler to learn a core skill from a textbook however it is more complex to apply that skill in practise; every individual is different and so are each of their issues. It is important as a student to familiarise ourselves with the key skills needed to become a successful skilled helper. In the beginning we are taught