My name is Amber, and I am an adult student returning to school and get my Social Work Masters degree so I can work toward my goal career in the mental health field. I grew up with abuse, and during my early twenties I experienced a horrific event with an old boyfriend but I was never sexually assaulted by a relative. Depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder are just some of the mental health illnesses I have but I have a dependent who was sexually assaulted by a family member and seeing her pain and suffering has fueled my desire to go into the mental health field so I can help people like her. My mental health journey has been difficult. Trying to find a counselor that made me feel heard, and a psychiatrist that would listen and not just prescribe me pills was in short supply. There are not enough people in the mental health field and after job shadowing in the different areas of the hospital I work at, I felt a calling towards mental health. Working the front desk in the ER as an Access Representative, I have seen a lot of different situations and I help where I can but each time there is a mental health situation and I have helped someone in some way, even if it's just by listening, I feel like it becomes stronger that this is the career I was made for. One day a mother was in our waiting room upset because their child was in our ER for suicidal ideation. I walked out, sat next to her, gave her a box of tissues and listened to her. I asked her some soft questions and asked if she would like to hear my own experiences dealing with mental health. After it was done, she hugged me and said hearing about my own experiences and the fact I listened to her helped. That was one of the key moments I knew mental health was the career I needed to go into. Sexual violence is a difficult situation to work through, especially for those who feel like they have no way out. I am hoping in the future after I have my degree that I can start helping people like my dependent work through the trauma they have unfortunately endured or to help them see the situation, give them resources, and help them get out of it. This will not get better unless we can work together and help each other out of it.

I escaped my violent partner in 2015 after he threatened to beat me. We had been together for three months, and with in that short span of time he had ahold of my bank account, isolated me from everyone, and had me in a very dark place mentally. I was raped, belittled, abused in physically, mentally, and emotionally. It was a very scary time in my life and I did not know how to get until until one day I was not given a choice but to walk out. I ran out the door with no shoes, grabbed my dog and ran to the only neighbor I trusted apartment and called the cops. If it was not for that day, I may not be out of that situation. Since then, I have struggled with different mental health illnesses and I did not know where to start but once I did, a passion ignited in me and I found my path into the mental health field and my desire to help others in need just like my situation. With education, I believe intimate partner violence can be reduced because I feel like if there was more education and resources out there, people might leave their violent situations. I was scared to leave because he beat me down so badly, my mental health was in shambles. I would not be here today if not for my mental health care team. Maybe if people were taught the difference between a good and abusive relationship, they might see theirs for what it truly is, and more importantly how to get help and leave the situation. They could know how to get the help they need. Education is very important and I think anyone should pursue it if they can. My goal is to go into the mental health field. I am working towards my bachelors degree before getting my masters LCSW degree. I want to be a counselor and help victims work through the trauma and try to feel seen and heard like I did. I am still going through counseling myself but I feel like its my calling to help others whom have suffered from depression, PTSD, and violence work through it because from my own experiences I can relate to their situation and I understand their feelings. We need more mental health care workers and we need more than are understanding to the different situations that people experience.

Mental health is very important to me as a person and a student. I talk about it as often as I can. I would like to tell you my mental health story and why it led to my passion for the field. Mental health has been a passion of mine ever since I started my own mental health journey. I grew up in a household with abuse and addiction. Growing up in the 90’s and early 2000’s there was still not much information on mental health and treatments you can have or if there was, it was very expensive for most. Mental health was not talked about in my household. So, I was very lost and suffering until I finally decided I had to have help. My mental health healing journey started in 2016 after getting hired at the local hospital which led to my diagnosis of depression, PTSD, Anxiety, and Bipolarism disorder. After starting one of my shifts, my mental health was completely depleted which led to thoughts of suicidal ideation. I never wanted to take my life; I have things I wanted to live for and people I wanted to live for. I was afraid of what would happen, and I had no plan, but I also knew I did not want to live anymore. I knew I needed help! Starting with my primary doctor, he referred me to a psychiatrist. Unfortunately, it took a while until I finally found one that worked for me. It took a couple of years for me to find one that I finally felt was listening to me and I felt like they cared. After being put on medication and evened out, I knew I wanted to work on my trauma and asked my psychiatrist how I could start working on it and that’s when I started working on my trauma. Changing careers and working in a direct patient care area which I have seen different mental health cases in all kinds of forms. Talking with patients and trying to be part of their care, I have had times when I have helped people by sharing my own experiences or giving my ear to listen to their troubles and it started to fuel my passion for mental health even more because I was hearing stories that were similar to mine and their struggle to get good mental health care. As I have started classes, in my English classes I could write about anything I wanted as long as it met certain guidelines and each time I wrote about mental health in some form. Stereotypes, barriers for treatment, how much some people suffer whether it is children, people in certain countries, or even inmates. This makes me upset that it’s this way. In other countries today it is still ignored, that some believe if you have mental health issues that you are possessed, or even killed because of that cultural belief. My journey has been rough, but I have access to resources, and I fought to find the right care for myself but not everyone has that access or knowledge on where to start. I want to be part of the solution, to start shouting from the rooftops so to speak about how to find treatment, that people are not alone and can get help and resources. I want to help others the way I have been helped. I want to be a mental health counselor. Mental health is invisible, forgotten, and ignored. It’s time that changed.

I would like to tell you my mental health story and why it led to my passion for the field. Mental health has been a passion of mine ever since I started my own mental health journey. I grew up in a household with abuse and addiction. My mother suffered from addiction to alcohol and drugs, which also led to the abuse. She passed in 2020 from liver failure from the addictions. Growing up in the 90’s and early 2000’s there was still not much information on mental health and treatments you can have or if there was, it was very expensive for most. Mental health was not talked about in my household. So, I was very lost and suffering until I finally decided I had to have help. My mental health healing journey started in 2016 after getting hired at the local hospital which led to my diagnosis of depression, PTSD, Anxiety, and Bipolarism disorder. After starting one of my shifts, my mental health was completely depleted which led to thoughts of suicidal ideation. I never wanted to take my life; I have things I wanted to live for and people I wanted to live for. I was afraid of what would happen, and I had no plan, but I also knew I did not want to live anymore. I knew I needed help! Starting with my primary doctor, he referred me to a psychiatrist. Unfortunately, it took a while until I finally found one that worked for me. It took a couple of years for me to find one that I finally felt was listening to me and I felt like they cared. After being put on medication and evened out, I knew I wanted to work on my trauma and asked my psychiatrist how I could start working on it and that’s when I started working on my trauma. I changed careers and now work in a direct patient care area which I have seen different mental health cases in all kinds of forms. Talking with patients and trying to be part of their care, I have had times when I have helped people by sharing my own experiences or giving my ear to listen to their troubles and it started to fuel my passion for mental health even more because I was hearing stories that were similar to mine and their struggle to get good mental health care. Addiction is part of mental health, I saw that during my childhood and as I have learned about mental health, I know addiction and mental health go hand in hand. This makes me upset that it’s this way. My journey has been rough, but watching my mother fight her addiction as well as her mental health, not getting the help she needed and wishing she did. I want to be part of the solution, to start shouting from the rooftops so to speak about how to find treatment, that people are not alone and can get help and resources. I want to help others the way I have been helped. I want to be a mental health counselor. Mental health is invisible, forgotten, and ignored. It’s time that changed.

I would like to tell you my mental health story and why it led to my passion for the field. Mental health has been a passion of mine ever since I started my own mental health journey. I grew up in a household with abuse and addiction. Growing up in the 90’s and early 2000’s there was still not much information on mental health and treatments you can have or if there was, it was very expensive for most. Mental health was not talked about in my household. So, I was very lost and suffering until I finally decided I had to have help. My mental health healing journey started in 2016 after getting hired at the local hospital which led to my diagnosis of depression, PTSD, Anxiety, and Bipolarism disorder. After starting one of my shifts, my mental health was completely depleted which led to thoughts of suicidal ideation. I never wanted to take my life; I have things I wanted to live for and people I wanted to live for. I was afraid of what would happen, and I had no plan, but I also knew I did not want to live anymore. I knew I needed help! Starting with my primary doctor, he referred me to a psychiatrist. Unfortunately, it took a while until I finally found one that worked for me. It took a couple of years for me to find one that I finally felt was listening to me and I felt like they cared. After being put on medication and evened out, I knew I wanted to work on my trauma and asked my psychiatrist how I could start working on it and that’s when I started working on my trauma. I changed careers and now work in a direct patient care area which I have seen different mental health cases in all kinds of forms. Talking with patients and trying to be part of their care, I have had times when I have helped people by sharing my own experiences or giving my ear to listen to their troubles and it started to fuel my passion for mental health even more because I was hearing stories that were similar to mine and their struggle to get good mental health care. As I have started classes, in my English classes I could write about anything I wanted as long as it met certain guidelines and each time I wrote about mental health in some form. Stereotypes, barriers for treatment, how much some people suffer whether it is children, people in certain countries, or even inmates. Mental health is still as much a taboo subject today as it was years ago. It has gotten better but it’s still not talked about enough or shared enough on how to get help or resources. This makes me upset that it’s this way. In other countries today it is still ignored, that some believe if you have mental health issues that you are possessed, or even killed because of that cultural belief. My journey has been rough, but I have access to resources, and I fought to find the right care for myself but not everyone has that access or knowledge on where to start. I want to be part of the solution, to start shouting from the rooftops so to speak about how to find treatment, that people are not alone and can get help and resources. I want to help others the way I have been helped. I want to be a mental health counselor. Mental health is invisible, forgotten, and ignored. It’s time that changed.