I am pursuing a degree in the mental health field because I understand firsthand how deeply mental illness can affect a person’s sense of self, relationships, and ability to function in daily life. My own experiences with depression, anxiety, and bulimia exposed me to the gaps that exist in mental health care, especially for young people who are struggling quietly and do not know where to turn. These experiences did not weaken me, but instead gave me clarity and purpose. They showed me how urgently compassionate, accessible, and human centered mental health care is needed. Mental illness does not exist in isolation. I have seen how untreated mental health conditions can spiral into destructive coping behaviors and how stigma often prevents people from asking for help before it is too late. Learning about the connection between mental illness and addiction further strengthened my commitment to this field. Too often, individuals are judged rather than supported, or treated as problems instead of people. I want to be part of a system that listens before labeling and supports before punishing. I am motivated to become a mental health professional who leads with empathy and understanding. I want to work with individuals who feel unseen or dismissed by the system, especially those from low income or unstable backgrounds. Many people facing mental health and substance use challenges do not lack strength, they lack support. My goal is to help create environments where people feel safe enough to be honest about their struggles and where treatment plans address the whole person rather than just symptoms. In my future career, I hope to advocate for more trauma informed care and earlier intervention. I believe mental health services should be proactive rather than reactive. This includes educating communities, supporting families, and ensuring that individuals are met with dignity at every stage of their healing process. I also want to help reduce the shame surrounding mental illness by normalizing open conversations and encouraging people to seek help without fear. The story behind this scholarship is a reminder of what happens when people fall through the cracks of a system that is overwhelmed or impersonal. Honoring Brian’s memory means committing to change, and that is what I intend to do with my education. I want to help build a mental health system that values connection, consistency, and compassion, so fewer lives are lost to silence and misunderstanding. Pursuing this degree is not just an academic goal for me. It is a promise to use my experiences, education, and voice to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others.

As a first-generation college student, one of my strongest talents is my ability to understand people on a deep emotional level. I grew up in an environment that taught me how important it is to have someone who listens, supports, and understands you. Because of the things I faced in my family and in my personal life, I learned early on that kindness and empathy can make a real difference in someone’s life. Those experiences shaped the way I treat others and the way I move through the world. I want to use those strengths to help create a global community that is more understanding, patient, and compassionate. I am the type of person who pays attention to small details in how people speak, how they carry themselves, and what they try to hide. I can sense when someone needs comfort, when they need space, or when they simply need someone to hear them without judgment. This ability comes from my life experiences. I know what it feels like to be misunderstood, to feel like your voice does not matter, or to feel like you have to figure everything out alone. Because of that, I want to show others the same care I once needed. In my life now, I use my empathy by being someone my friends can come to when they need support. I try to remind them that their emotions are valid and that they deserve compassion. These moments may seem small, but they build trust and connection. I believe that the first step to building a more understanding world begins with the way we treat the people around us every day. In the future, I want to use my education and personal strengths to help people in meaningful ways. I plan to work in a field that focuses on mental health, healing, and emotional support. My goal is to help young people who feel alone or overwhelmed. I want to create spaces where people feel safe sharing their stories and where they can receive real guidance. A more empathetic world begins with communities that make room for vulnerability, honesty, and growth. I also believe that sharing my personal experiences can help others feel less alone. There are many people who come from difficult backgrounds or who are first-generation students like me. When we speak openly about our challenges, we create a sense of community and understanding. We show others that they do not have to hide and that they deserve to feel seen and heard. My personal talents are not flashy or loud. They are quiet strengths that come from surviving hard experiences and choosing to become a kinder person because of them. These strengths guide the way I care for others and the way I want to shape the world. With my education and my desire to help people, I plan to create positive change by encouraging empathy, emotional awareness, and authentic support. A more understanding global community begins with people who care enough to listen, and I am committed to being one of those people.

For a long time, my mental health struggles were shaped by the environment I grew up in. My home life was not calm or supportive. I experienced family abuse that made me feel small, scared, and unsure of myself. Instead of growing up with encouragement, I grew up thinking I had to stay quiet, stay strong, and pretend everything was fine. I felt like I was carrying everything alone, and eventually that weight turned into depression and anxiety. It was hard to feel hopeful when I did not feel safe in my own home. The hardest part was learning how to separate who I am from what I went through. For years, I believed that what happened to me defined me. I felt broken and misunderstood, and I did not know how to ask for help. My depression made simple things feel impossible. Getting out of bed, focusing on school, or even believing that I had a future became daily battles. But little by little, I began to understand that healing is not something that happens all at once. It started when I allowed myself to see that what happened to me was not my fault. I began working toward overcoming my mental health challenges by being honest with myself and by reaching out for help. I opened up to people I trusted and stopped pretending that everything was alright. I learned coping skills, I learned how to calm myself down during overwhelming moments, and I learned how to give myself compassion instead of blame. Healing has not been perfect. I still have difficult days. But I am not the same girl who was scared to speak up. I am growing, and I am learning how to live in a way that puts my well being first. My experiences with abuse and depression are the reason I want to pursue a degree in a mental health related field. I know how powerful it is to have someone understand what you are going through. I know how much courage it takes to ask for help. I want to be that person for someone else. I want to support young people who feel alone, who are dealing with trauma, or who do not have a safe place to talk about their feelings. I want to remind them that they are not their pain and that they deserve to feel safe and supported. Right now, I support others by being open about my story when it can help someone feel less alone. My friends know that they can come to me with their struggles. I listen to them the way I used to wish someone would listen to me. In the future, I want to raise awareness about mental health by educating others, working in community spaces, and making sure people understand how trauma affects the mind and body. I want to be part of a movement that makes mental health support accessible and compassionate. My journey has taught me strength, empathy, and purpose. I survived things that were meant to break me, and instead I am using those experiences to build a future where I help others heal. This scholarship would support not only my education but also my mission to be the kind of mental health professional who changes lives, especially for people who grew up the way I did.

When I think about the people who helped me realize my full potential, my mind goes straight to my boyfriend and his family. Before I met them, I doubted myself constantly. I felt like I was always trying to figure things out on my own, especially as a first-generation student. I didn’t always have someone reminding me that I was capable of more than the situation I grew up in. But being around him and his family completely changed the way I saw myself, my goals, and my future. What makes their impact so meaningful is that they didn’t try to “fix” me or tell me what I should be. They simply believed in me in a way I wasn’t used to. They saw potential in me that I didn’t even know I had. My boyfriend encouraged me to dream bigger, to take chances, and to stop settling for less than what I deserved. He pushed me to stay in college, stay focused, and trust that I was strong enough to build a future I could be proud of. Just having someone consistently cheering me on made it easier to believe that I belonged in spaces I used to feel too small for. His family also welcomed me in with the kind of warmth and support I never expected. They treated my goals like they mattered. They asked about my classes, my plans, and the things I wanted to accomplish, and they celebrated even the small steps I made. Being around a family that believed in education and believed in me made college feel more possible. They showed me the kind of encouragement and stability that helps a person grow. Sometimes you don’t realize how much you’ve been carrying alone until someone helps lighten the weight. What I appreciate most is how they helped me see that being a first-generation student is something powerful, not something that should make me feel behind. They reminded me that my background doesn’t limit me, it motivates me. Through them, I learned that my dreams don’t have to be “realistic” or “safe.” They can be big, ambitious, and meaningful, and I’m allowed to chase them. Because of their support, I started to see myself differently. I started believing I deserved opportunities, that college wasn’t some impossible path, and that I had more strength than I gave myself credit for. Their encouragement helped me grow into someone who doesn’t give up so easily. They helped me realize that I want to create a future where I make them proud, but also a future where I am proud of myself. Their impact has shown me how important it is to have people in your life who genuinely want to see you succeed. And because of that, I want to become someone who offers that kind of support to others, especially to young people who feel like they’re trying to figure everything out alone. My boyfriend and his family helped me see my potential, and now I want to use that growth to reach my goals and give back to my community in ways that make a real difference.

My decision to pursue a career in mental health began before I even knew what therapy was. I grew up surrounded by chaos, silence, and survival. For years. I endured physical, verbal, emotional, medical, and sexual abuse. I learned early that people can carry deep pain behind a quiet smile. When I finally left home at 18, I began to understand that my life hadn’t been normal, it had been in survival mode. That realization sparked something inside me. I need to heal not only for myself, but also to help others who feel trapped in the pain they didn’t choose. My lived experiences have shaped me into someone who leads with empathy. I don’t see people as problems to be fixed, but a story to be heard. When I think about the kind of therapist I want to become, I imagine someone who makes others feel safe enough to speak their truth. I want to specialize in child psychology or trauma-focused therapy because I know what it’s like to be a child who needed someone to listen and no one did. My pain has become my purpose. It helps me connect deeply with others to hold space for their healing and to remind them that they are not broken, just rebuilding. If I could change one thing about today’s mental healthcare system, it would be accessibility to many people, especially those in low-income or marginalized communities, who see mental healthcare as a luxury rather than a necessity. Therapy shouldn’t be something only the privileged can afford. I would advocate for community-based programs to integrate mental health support directly in the schools, shelters, and community centers, free or sliding scale counseling programs could allow more people, especially youth and survivors of abuse, to receive help early on before their pain becomes unbearable. Expanding culturally competent care is just as important. People heal the best when they feel seen, understood, and respected for who they are, not just diagnosed by what they’ve entered. Teletherapy has opened doors for many people who might not otherwise access care and I’ve seen its benefits firsthand it offers flexibility, safety, and privacy, especially for those who may fear judgment or live far from therapist they trust, however it also has challenges limited access to technology, unstable internet, and emotional distance of a screen some people, especially trauma survivors need an in person, warmth, and grounding to feel safe to improve. Teletherapy, I believe, we need innovation that combines technology with compassion, creating user-friendly platforms, providing affordable devices, and providers in trauma-informed virtual care could make a world of difference. Most importantly, we should ensure these digital tools reflect diversity in language, culture, and accessibility. My dream is to be the kind of therapist who bridges those gaps to meet people where they are, whether that’s in a counseling office, a school, or through a screen. My experience has taught me that healing looks different for everyone. Sometimes it’s a single conversation that sparks a change, sometimes it’s years of slow growth. Either way, I want to be there for those moments. Every scar and setback in my life has shaped my compassion and termination. I’m living proof that pain can turn into purpose, and I want to dedicate my life to helping others find their own version of healing. Becoming a mental health professional isn’t just my career goal, it’s my way of giving others what I once needed most: hope, safety, and the belief that life can be beautiful again.

Being a first-generation college student means more than being the first in my family to attend college, it means being the first to dream beyond survival. I didn’t grow up in a home. Where education was encouraged. I grew up in a place where silence was safety, where I was told I wouldn’t amount to anything, and where dreams were considered distractions. For me, going to college isn’t just an accomplishment, it’s an act of defiance, proving that my past will not decide my future. For most of my life, school was my escape. It was where I could be curious, where I could imagine a different kind of life. But even that came with challenges, there were nights I failed classes not because I didn’t care, but because I was scared of home, scared of what would happen if I made a mistake. When I finally left that environment, I realized that education wasn’t just about learning facts, it was about finding freedom, it was about building a life I could choose for myself. Being a first-generation student can be overwhelming. I don’t have family who can tell me how to fill out forms, manage tuition, or balance everything at once. There are moments when I feel lost when impostor syndrome creeps in, but then I remind myself I’ve survived worse. I’ve endured things that should’ve broken me, and if I could survive that, I can figure out college, too. My dream is to become a child psychologist or social worker growing up. I saw what happens when children’s voices go unheard. I want to be the person I needed back then, a safe place, someone who listens and believes. What drives me is knowing that my story doesn’t have to end in pain, it can end with a purpose. It can help others find hope where I once couldn’t. The scholarship would help me continue building that purpose. It would allow me to focus on my studies without worrying about the way to financial stress. It would mean stability, the kind of never had growing up, and the reassurance that people believe in my potential. Being a first-generation student means carrying the strength of survival and transforming it into determination. It means rewriting a story that begins with struggle and turning it into one of resilience, compassion, and hope. I may not come from much, but I come with heart, and that will take me farther than anything else ever could.

From the moment I was old enough to understand what home was supposed to feel like, I knew mine was different. I grew up surrounded by fear and instability, facing physical, verbal, mental, medical, and even sexual abuse from the time I was around 3 until I turned 18. For years, I believed chaos was normal, but it wasn't. It wasn't until I finally left home that I realized it wasn't "tough love", it was trauma. That moment became the turning point in my life, the day I decided to break the cycle and start healing for myself and for my future family. The consequences of early childhood trauma doesn't disappear when a child grows up. They're quietly in the background, with trust issues, emotional detachment, and even simple things like struggling to focus in class. For me, trauma showed up in my grades. I failed multiple classes because I was too afraid of what was waiting for me at home. I became emotionally closed off and learned never to trust anyone fully, but once I left that environment began to understand how deeply trauma affects the developing mind, and that realization led to psychology. I chose to major in psychology because I wanted to understand how the brain worked, but also because I wanted to understand myself. I'm especially drawn to child psychology and social work, where I can make a difference for kids who feel trapped. I want to give children a voice, to help them see that their experiences don't define them, and to offer hope that healing is possible. What helped me begin with my healing was something simple but powerful: love. My boyfriend became my safe place when I had never known what safety felt like. Through him, I learned that stability exists and that I am capable of building it for others. Out of everything I've endured, I gained empathy, determination, and resilience. I've learned to turn pain into purpose and fear into fuel for my feature. Despite everything I've been through, I still believe in hope, still believe in kindness. I still believe I'm going to be someone, nd more importantly, I believe I can help others believe that about themselves too. I know what it feels like to be voiceless, to mistake pain for love, to grow up thinking you’re unworthy. But I also know the power of healing, of choosing to keep going, and of creating the life you deserve. My story began in silence, but it won’t end that way. I’ll spend my life helping others find the courage to speak, heal, and believe.