The Importance of Communication

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The Importance of Communication

I believe that one of my strengths lie in the way I communicate and deal with children. I think that we must become active listeners in order to understand each other. During my internship with the Instititute for Social Justice, I worked with inmates on research for alternative social models of punishment. In order to do the job effectively, I needed to empathize with the inmates so that I could understand their concerns and needs and remedy any self-destructive conduct they exhibit. The work also involved an all out hunt on my part to place these inmates into environments and programs that would prove healthy for them.

I maintained a working relationship with my friends at the Institute and checked their progress weekly. I believe that the power to empathize, or the ability to put yourself in someone else's place begins with an open mind. When I say that we must become active listeners in order to understand one another, I mean to say that there are subtle movements in our speech, certain words that we use, certain utterances that are not directed towards us, certain circumstances unrevealed to us.

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