Just Listening Services - Active Listening for individuals, couples and business.

If seeing a therapist, attorney, or mediator is not right for you, but you need to talk with someone, consider Just Listening. You will receive support for things as they are, with no pressure to do anything, change anything, or solve anything. Just Listening gives you a chance to better understand what a part of you already knows -- how to improve a difficult situation -- by talking to a professional listener.

Joel Palmer has been honing his professional listening skills for more than 10 years. He has had more than 600 hours of specialized training in interpersonal and organizational communication, conflict resolution, and mediation.

Clients have included the U.S. Postal Service, Linn/Benton (Oregon) Circuit & District Courts, U.S. Justice Department (Americans with Disabilities Act implementation), and Soil & Water Conservation Districts. Joel has assisted over 300 divorcing couples to negotiate peaceful settlements and parenting plans. He has worked with families, organizations, businesses, churches, and crime victims and offenders.

In addition to working as a professional listener & mediator, Joel has been a consulting engineer, an environmental regulator, and research scientist. He has BS & MS degrees in agricultural engineering and is a licensed civil engineer. He is a former practitioner member of both the Academy of Family Mediators and the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution.

"After years of mediating, and working closely with lawyers and counselors, I realized that for many who use these services, the mediator or counselor or lawyer imposes a lot of process that the client doesn't want or need.

"I believe many people who are struggling with difficult situations really just need someone they can talk to, confidentially, and without someone trying to make you a better person or solve your problems for you.

"I've created Just Listening Services as a low-level professional intervention for those who want to get something off their chest, or talk something out. Often the answers are within ourselves -- we just need to say the words out loud."