Professional Listening Interview Captivating, stirring, magnetic, interesting, and refreshing are just a few words to describe my professional interview. Richard Luna is an Associate Minister at Pollard United Methodist Church in Tyler Texas. He spends approximately 8 hours a week in formal counseling, and an additional 6-8 hours in unarranged counseling. Reverend Luna has enough collegiate hours to be a medical doctor. He received his Bachelors degree in Christian Education, then attended seminary, and his next step was receiving two Master degrees consecutively, the first being in Theology, and the second in Professional Counseling. When asked what motivated him to spend so many years in school, he told this intriguing story. When I was at my first assigned church, during my last year of seminary; I was engaged but not yet married. I had a couple come to me for marriage counseling, that were very good friends of my fianc and I. They had been married for 17 years, and I was at a loss for how to help them. I decided I never wanted to have to turn people away again. The first listening concept discussed in this interview, was that of perception checking. Reverend Luna said this is especially important marriage counseling. Due to an overwhelming amount of miscommunication Perception checking is one of the first things he teaches couples to use, even in pre-marital counseling. Mr. Luna also said If you dont understand what a person is communicating to you, and you go on responding in way that is not appropriate to their purpose, it can become a serious problem in ALL relationships. The second concept we discussed in this interview, was that of listening barriers. Reverend Lunas advice on listening barriers was to first be able to recognize the barrier, and then try to overcome it. If the barrier cannot be broken, the best thing to do is remove yourself from the communication if possible, because no one is benefiting from it. Mr. Luna...
