Emotional Tutoring

I keep remembering the experience I had a few weeks ago in the WC with a student who was composing an essay on an emotional experience. She had some health issues which had impacted her life very deeply. The paper was difficult to read due to the emotional nature of the content. Additionally, it was difficult due to my own traumatic health experience. Unfortunately, I believe I made a mistake when I told her about my own experiences with health and medicines. It would have been better for us both if I had simply focused on the quality of the paper. I believe that by relating my own experiences, even though I wanted her to know that her own story was not "weird," I unfortunately detracted from her reason for coming in to the WC. She was not there for therapy; she was there for help with her paper. If I could relive that session, I would simply let her know that, since she was writing a personal narrative, her experience was valid, no matter how "weird" it might seem. My own "weird" experience has no bearing on any student's writing.