First Journal I am doing my externship at Abeltin & Migoya LLP. Currently, I am assisting the supervising attorneys with drafting and responding to discovery. The first goal I would like to accomplish during the externship is to develop client interviewing skills. The second goal is to develop and learn good lawyering skills. The third goal is to build more confidence in asking questions and approaching new projects. I discussed all three these goals with my supervising attorney on the first day of my externship. For the first goal, the supervising attorney added that I would have plenty of opportunities to develop communication skills with the clients because I would be communicating with them in person and via phone call. During
However, I have learned to improve my communication skills and relationships through communication courses. Prior to enrolling in communication
Prompt: In 500 words or more, describe your collegiate experience thus far. How has this experience and the knowledge you've gained influenced what you plan to study? How have they influenced your decision to apply to St. Edward's?
Walking into Walnut Hills High School right now would have anyone thinking the just walked into the middle of a tornado. Everyone you look there are students running in and out of doors, in and out of cars, and most certainly either turning in missing assignments or retaking tests. There is only one way for you to explain all this ciaos, Senior Year, the year that all teens await with so much excitement and ambition and the year that every single hour long study dates pays off. For the class of 2021 this isn’t just their final year at Walnut Hills this is the year that friends separate and head off to their different university to follow their dreams.
I hope that through this experience I can grow my understanding of the legal system and its affects on others. I feel as though working diligently with those who are in dire need of legal help will advance me in the path of law at a rapid pace. Being immersed with people who have
The communication skills I currently use in the field of social work are as follows:
Field experience was a unique experience for me, and also the most stressful. This was one of the parts of my academic career that would decide if I really wanted to be an elementary school teacher. Although I was not paired with a student who required special education, I was paired with a student who needed help. The actions I observed with this student was how she interacted with the teacher and other students.
Sutton, J. and Stewart, W. (2008) Learning to Counsel, 3rd edition, Oxford: How to Books Ltd.
The one skill that I used more of was empathy; I wanted the client to know that I understood her situation as well her feelings. At the end of our conversation, I summarized everything that we talked about, especially her want to open up to her parents and express herself to them. She mentioned that she wants them to fell empathy towards her, because the lack of parental empathy that she felt when she was younger, has even affected her in her adult life (Kilpatrick,2005).
My major is Paralegal Studies and I expect to graduate with an Associates of Arts degree in December of this year. Many years ago, as an investigator for both a private company and a county agency, I was introduced to the legal field. Recently, I was awarded the opportunity to attend college, so I decided I wanted to reenter the legal profession as a paralegal. The paralegal profession appeals to me, because I enjoy the processes of developing a case, as well as its legal aspects. A paralegal is involved in a case from the beginning to the end; from the initial client interview to assisting the attorney during the client’s trial or the settlement process. My goal is to become a paralegal for a solo practitioner or a small firm in my local area who represent clients in different areas of the law.
In successful communication building rapport is one of the core second person skills. Rapport building is the establishment of a harmonic, comfortable work relationship between the counsellor and the client (Ramseyer & Tschacher, 2011). Rapport is the essential skill for a counsellor to build trust with the client. Hunt and Price (2002) suggest rapport should be additionally based on sincerity and respect and is never ending as it is a building stone to a productive long-term bond. Sharpley, Jeffrey and McMah (2006) state effective rapport building can be display through the counsellor’s interest and engagement with the client, but also the client’s involvement in the session and his or her enjoyment of sharing the experience and...
I am from the island of Falalop Woleai which is one the outer islands of Yap State. The culture I was born and raised in has slightly changed over the years but our traditions are strongly practiced and respected. Woleaians today still wears traditional attire of loin cloths or “thus” for men and lava lavas for women.
The counseling session began with the introductions where I introduced myself as the counselor and later introduced my client. This stage is important in any counseling session since it is the time of exploration and focusing according to Gerard Egan as quoted by Wright (1998) in his essay on couselling skills. It is in this session that I was able to establish rapport and trust with my client in order to come up with a working and fruitful relationship with him. During this stage I made use of skills like questioning, where I would pose a question directly to my client, sometimes I would choose to just listen to what the client wanted to speak out while in some instances I would be forced to paraphrase the question if I felt the client did not understand the question I had asked previously. There were also other times when I would reflect through silence. During such a period, I got time to study the client and the information he had given. This being a difficult area, since some clients may not be able to volunteer information to you as the counselor, I decided to assure the client of confidentiality of any information he was willing to share with me with a few exceptions which I also told him about. Being open to him about the only times the information may not be confidential was part of my building rapport and establishing trust with him. I therefore, decided to ask the client what information he wanted to share with me and lucky enough he was ready to speak to me about different issues that he was going through.
As a social worker it is important to have basic communication skills in order to connect with clients. There are six basic and four advanced skills that are used in direct practice to make communication more effective. The basic skills include reflection of feelings, paraphrasing, open ended questions, closed ended questions, clarification and attending behaviors. Advanced skills consist of summarization, information giving, interpretation and confrontation. Not only is it important to know what these skills are, it is also important to know what the appropriate and inappropriate uses are. It is also important to self-reflect on your use of these skills, and whether it is a strength or something to continue to work to improve on.
Another skill that needs improvement is my use of active listening. Every client and every situation is different, and even though we practiced our skills in a conference room with other students and I found it difficult to concentrate, there may be times as a social worker when I may be in a noisy atmosphere and I have to practice tuning out background noise in order to hear what my client is disclosing.
Being able to communicate effectively in a professional manner is vital in most, if not all, career paths. This statement brings up some important questions. Do potential employers really care about an applicant’s communication skills? How will I use communication skills in my own career? How has college improved my own professional communication skills? Understanding how to communicate in a professional manner can help people in their careers and I feel improving my own communication skills will benefit me now and in the future.