Gaining Insight into Yourself as a Helper
By Eric D. Burton - Thursday, Sep 3, 2020, 8:23 PM
A little over a year ago, I had the privilege of providing assistance to a young Military Spouse who came to me for help with establishing a Federal Resume in order to apply for a position on a Military Installation.
1. What were your motives for helping this person?
As with all clients my number one priority is to provide quality
customer service. With this particular
client, she came to my office and she was accompanied by a female Military
member which I assumed was a friend initially.
I went through my regular process of assessing personal skills,
experience and particular duties to see what kind of abilities the client may
have in order to give recommendations on job availability, and recommended
resources such as educational and developmental training that may help or
improve overall job interviews and referrals for employment. As a retired U.S. veteran of 25 years, I know
from first hand experiences of what Military Spouses go through when they
accompany their Military Member Spouse in overseas areas. Therefore, I go out of my way to advise,
counsel and help in any way possible.
2. Did you benefit from this
relationship in any way? How?
With this particular client I definitely benefited from the
relationship in that I learned a lot about myself and was able to improve on
future client to customer relationships.
Basically, I learned that I had to let go of my own personal beliefs and
see every client as an opportunity to share knowledge and hopefully teaching
and training a client with the ultimate goal of them gaining a completive edge
needed for employment opportunities.
3. What was your role in the helping relationship? In what way do you
think you helped this person? Looking back, is there anything that you might
have done differently?
Looking back, initially, I feel like this particular client did not get
the ultimate customer services package in the beginning due to my lack of
understanding and due to my assumption which was true about her relationship
with the female Military Member that came in with her. However, after learning that the client was
the spouse of the female Military Member, I was very honest with both and
expressed that I was not used to having to counsel a same sex couple. I believed I helped this client in
understanding that there are people who still are not accustomed to the
different types of couple relationships and the awkwardness it might bring to
some.
4. Was there anything that this person did, said, or believed that you
did not agree with? How did you react?
Now looking back, I can clearly see that I made it painfully obvious by
my reaction when she told me that the female Military Member was her
spouse. It was very awkward for me and
for the couple.
5. Did you learn anything from this relationship?
Although I still maintain my belief in the traditional marriage
(Man/Woman) however as counselors, mentors and career coaches I learned that
providing quality services is the utmost priority as a helper regardless of
personal beliefs.