Think about two interactions you've had recently or in the past where you have not been able to connect with someone because of incongruence between yourself and the other person, and/or a barrier to being seen as authentic to the other person.

Describe your experiences, set the scene by outlining details of the interactions, what parts of your language or composure may have fell flat, or what skills were missing that meant you weren't able to truly connect with the other person.

Being able to self-reflect on circumstances where you haven't quite hit the mark is vital to becoming an effective counsellor, so embrace the discomfort of being honest about your areas of development and encourage others by responding to other students' posts as well.