couched in humility, courage and respect for mankind. Not to mention, the academic commitment professional doers and helpers make and see through in order to become warranted in addition to being effective and ethical in their pursuit of benefitting others. Hence, this piece is written in a sincere effort to be candid and clear as well as publicly acknowledge and share the endless blessings a lifetime of helping has brought to my table rather than anything else. To fast forward and elaborate on my present professional endeavours as a Research Officer within the Faculty of Social Wellbeing, this is where my privilege to impact my community through socially-just, inspired research hailing from my keen sense of empathic concern extends. Specifically, a substantial part of my work, namely within the Department of Counselling and under the direct supervision of the Head of Department, revolves around studying the effectiveness of local school-based counselling in selected and highly transcultural areas, as well as the effects of having limited to no access to school counselling for students with high psycho-socioemotional and behavioural needs. These are just two counselling research projects inspired by social justice that happen to overlap with my still emerging academic path and strong need to help others, especially clusters of voiceless and overlooked children and their families. Most importantly, the results of these investigations have the potential to impact the provision of school counselling in Malta. However, just as importantly, work on these counselling research projects teams me up with other like-minded and like-hearted researchersprofessionals who, through their experienced and ethical approach, inspire and encourage me to do even more and better on a daily basis for the collective good. Besides a counselling researcher, I am a counsellor by profession and certainly at heart. The ability to practice counselling is what I call the cherry on my professional cake as, besides maturing my empathic concern into ethical helping, it enables me to help clients illuminate liminal spaces in their lives, which is my foremost motivating factor. Indeed, I believe that no one should go through life’s obstacles and challenges alone. Also, that a genuine helper’s involvement at critical points in a client’s life can make all the difference between a client’s choice to switch gears and start living a fulfilling life or otherwise. Through the counselling relationship, I am therefore able to help individuals, couples, families and groups empower themselves by identifying goals along with possible solutions to problems and attain optimal mental health and wellness as well as relational and career goals. Moreover, being trusted with people’s most intimate and unravelling life narratives is, for me, more than an honour and a privilege, as apart from helping clients, each circular interaction is yet another lesson in life, another opportunity for me to become a better person. Finally, but importantly, counselling practice keeps me close to my community’s pulse, which sequentially informs both my counselling research projects and practice. Thus, after taking everything into consideration, community involvement is truly a perpetual blessing in my life; precisely, the gift that keeps on giving!
References: Batson, C. D., Lishner, D. A., & Stocks, E. L. (2015). The empathy-altruism hypothesis. Oxford Handbooks Online, 1-27. https://www. researchgate.net/profile/Eric_Stocks/publication/313391047_The_empathy-altruism_hypothesis/links/5a22df1a4585155dd41c9929/ The-empathy-altruism-hypothesis.pdf Martin Luther King Jr. (1957). Speech to an audience in Montgomery, Alabama. Ngozi, V. E., & Thanh, T. (2020). Dimensions of altruism behaviors among Americans in the general social survey. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 30(2), 213-227.
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