If, as many allege, we are the stories that we tell, then these stories might well be seen as constituting a fundamental piece of the self. But stories need to be heard, just as the self requires witnesses. In the lives of most people, counselors and teachers, along with parents, represent the most significant witnesses in our lives and hence to the development of our selves and what we call knowledge. But counselors and teachers also require witnesses for their stories, which means that students provide them the possibility of acting authentically as they seek to constantly compose that which they call their self, their voice, and their narrative. If these propositions are true, then the counselor's office and classroom provide the context in which genuine relationships are established, relationships that lie at the heart of the construction of the self as well as the process of learning.