According to Natural Helpers adviser, Allison Luskey, the goal of the Oct. 26 training day is to help Natural Helpers improve their skills.

“The purpose is to increase our skills around communication, active listening, mindful inquiry leadership, specifically for students who are Natural Helpers,” Luskey said.

Luskey said throughout the day there will be speakers, practice sessions and group activities.

“We have various speakers coming in, we will do practice sessions of active listening, mindful inquiry. We will also talk a little about empathy versus sympathy and the importance of validation,” Luskey said. “We will do some one on one conversations, some small group conversations and some large group discussions.”

Natural Helpers member junior Nebyu Bekele said the all-day training can be useful for new members.

“For me, I’m used to it but for the new ones coming in, it helps them and gets them ready to see what it’s like and it’s also fun with a lot of good activities,” Bekele said.

According to Luskey, another goal of the day is to promote bonding between the more than 40 Natural Helpers.

“We will also do some whole group activities to increase the community within the group, because not everybody will know each other,” Luskey said.

According to Natural Helper sophomore Ainsley Preston Pepperell, the training is beneficial because it helps the Natural Helpers succeed.

“It’s important because we are here because we want to help everybody, and we want to do that to the best of our abilities. So it’s a nice help for us to know what we are doing,” Preston Pepperell said.

Preston Pepperell said she hopes to get to know her fellow Natural Helpers during the all day training.

“I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone, because it’s a really cool groups of people but it’s not a lot of people who I am really good friends with or anything. I feel like it’s always fun to get to know people a little bit better,” Preston Pepperell said.

Preston Pepperell said she wanted to be a Natural Helper because it aligns with what she wants to do later in life.

“I wanted to be a Natural Helper because I am interested in that as a professional field, like being a therapist or a school counselor maybe. I figured this would give me some good background experience,” Pepperell said. “Also I generally just enjoy helping people so I figured this was a good way to do that.”

According to Bekele the requirements for being a Nature Helper include being nice and outgoing. Bekele said after an application and interview, someone is able to become a Natural Helper.

“You should be kind, passionate, loving person that people are willing to talk to,” Bekele said. “You gotta apply too and then you get interviewed.”