What is a professional listener?

A professional listener is someone who creates a nonjudgmental and empathetic space for their client to express anything and everything they wish to discuss and process. The listener is present and attend to dialogues about the client’s fears, wishes, dreams, and regrets. A professional listener may be enlisted as a support for someone who is suffering from isolation and loneliness. On the other hand, a professional listener may be engaged by someone who has many relationships in their lives, but does not feel comfortable discussing their fears, insecurities, or dreams with any of those current relationships. A professional listener can both a friend during a time in need or a confidant when you are dealing with something particularly sensitive. In addition, a professional listener can also serve as a life coach who offers honest feedback and clarification. With that being said, a professional listener is not a medical or psychiatric professional, so they can not offer any professional advice or counsel with regard to mental, physical, or psychological conditions. Because of this, a professional listener will not diagnose or label you, but instead will simply be a sounding-board and caring person who takes the time to understand what is being said and provide validation.

Professional listening is an important practice that can help you clarify who you are, what you want to be or do, and how you want to engage with other relationships in your life. Any relationship that you have already established in your life will generally be based on expectations of who you have already shown yourself to be. In other words, it can be difficult to change yourself and explore new parts of yourself in pre-existing relationships because there is often an expectation that you will be who you have already shown yourself to be. When we decide we are changing and no longer want to engage in the same ways, our existing relationships can often react negatively or with judgement. One of the greatest values within the professional listening relationship is the lack of expectations. You are not expected to be anything or anyone and this allows an immense amount of freedom to express yourself in new or different ways. Within this freedom, you can experience validation and support for new aspects of yourself that may be emerging or that you wish to explore more. A professional listener can provide this freedom of judgement and expectation through their supportive and understanding interactions with their clients.