I personally have been a type 1 diabetic for over ten years, I attended a camp to help me cope with diabetes in my grade school years, and took inspiration from the many people I interacted with in my years at the camp. Saying that, it influenced my decision to go into counseling to help others who struggle with the day to day challenges that diabetes poses to each and every individual affected by it, which is often the family and friends of the diabetic as well as the diabetic themselves. I plan to use my experiences with diabetes to be able to counsel young people that are struggling like I did through grade school, and even some now in my adult life. I would like to be the example for younger Type 1 Diabetics, to show them that the disease does not define you, you get to define what your life will be, and you can be successful even with the life altering disease that is diabetes. With my field of counseling, or social work, I will have the chance to help people who are struggling with diabetes by explaining my personal experiences, as well as how I copied with the hard times that do come with diabetes. Using my experience with the autoimmune disease that is Diabetes, I can hopefully help many people of all ages avoid "diabetic burnout" which is when a diabetic reaches a point in their life where they wonder if life is worth the challenge of surviving diabetes, or if they should let the disease take them. I personally went through "diabetic burnout" for about 2 years, and had my amazing fiance and everyone else in my support system help me make it through it, which is what I plan to do for others in my career field. That is my goal for helping others with diabetes in my career field, and I hope to get to helping people like me as soon as possible.

A finance lesson that I have found important up to now, is never borrow more money than you can afford to pay back. This is true with credit cards, personal loans, student loans, and even car and house loans. If you borrow within the amount that you know you can comfortably afford in the future with your current or future income, you will never fall deeply into debt. I learned that from my foster father, and have been practicing it ever since. For example if I have to use my credit card to pay for gas one month, I make sure the money is in my account before I even run the card. In doing so, I have managed to keep a very good credit score, land an apartment with my lovely fiance, and get a loan for a vehicle that is very reliable for me and my fiance. All-in-all, I believe that borrowing within what you know you have is one of the best pieces of financial advice I have ever been given.

I believe the most practical solution to helping people struggling with mental health is to listen to them and be aware of what they are going through. In my personal experiences, if you are familiar with what something feels like you are more suited to help treat what is going on with an individual.

My struggle with mental health has shaped me into the person I am today. I was diagnosed with depression and generalized anxiety disorder when I was first placed in the foster care system at age ten. As I got older, I learned different ways to cope with my depression and anxiety and have used those coping mechanisms to help myself succeed, and to help others with their mental health issues. I am going into the counseling field as a result of my experiences with mental health, as I believe if you have suffered through something as detrimental as mental health issues you should help others to not suffer if you are capable of doing that.

I decided to go back to school because I want to be able to help people more than I do every day, and cannot do that without education. I decided on being an Addiction Counseling Major because I have personally seen what addiction can do to people and want to help people cope with it in the future. In the long run I want to branch out to be a children's counselor so I can be the person I never got to have when I was younger.