Charli XCX's new album "brat" has multiple amazing songs. However, my favorite one is "Apple". This song makes me think about my complicated relationship with some of my family members. As someone studying to become a marriage and family therapist, this song provides a beautiful and engaging analogy of unhealthy family patterns, and generational trauma and curses. When Charli says that "I think the apple's rotten right to the core, From all the things passed down, From all the apples coming before" it makes me think about the different unhealthy family patterns that I encounter in my family, and in cases that I study for my field. Additionally, when she says "I split the apple down symmetrical lines, And what I find is kinda scary, Makes me just wanna drive" acts as a metaphor for the attempt to break generational curses and having difficulty in changing those patterns and how they impact us. Many clients pause or even stop therapy altogether when they have a breakthrough. The feeling of being scared by the vulnerable nature of something we are uncovering in therapy can lead many to want to flee. As a client, there were moments in which I wanted to leave after uncovering something about myself in therapy, because I was scared. This song makes me feel heard and reassured.

Sabrina Carpenter has long been one of my favorite artists. I remember that the first time I heard her music, I was in 9th grade. One of my friends would take the same school van as me. I had a flip phone at the time, due to my parents not wanting me to have a smartphone for safety reasons. My friend, however, had a smartphone and we would listen to music together on our way to school. The first song I ever heard from Sabrina was "Can't Blame a Girl for Trying" as we were on our way to school. As a hopeless romantic, I related to this song in a way that there are little words to describe. When I got home from school, I went to Youtube and started to listen to this song on repeat. Later that year, I remember watching some episodes of Girl Meets World, and recognizing her in the role of Maya Hart. As the years passed, I kept up with her music. Albums like Eyes Wide Open, EVOLution, Singular Act I and II, emails I can't send, and emails I can't send fwd, have been a large part of the soundtrack of my life. I remember when she was cast for the Mean Girls musical on Broadway and I was so excited to see it, but the pandemic happened, and I was devastated. I know that Sabrina's music has recently gained a lot more attention since the album emails I can't send was released, and even more so with the songs Espresso and Please Please Please from her upcoming album short and sweet. I am genuinely excited to hear the new songs that will be coming in this album. Many new fans do not know all of the amazing music that she has released over her entire musical career. Many of these fans will be attending her concerts in LA in November. I hope that they enjoy the experience as much as I would if I could go. I currently cannot afford those tickets, as being a graduate student is expensive and the internships in my field tend to be unpaid, but I hope that I get to see her live sometime. Until then, I will be listening to her songs as I drive to graduate school, to visit my loved ones, when I am feeling sad, angry, confident, and absolutely in love. Her music has been there for me through many stages of my life. Through high school, college and now, graduate school. Through heartbreak, falling in love, new and old friendships, old endings and new beginnings. I know it will continue to be a big part of the soundtrack of my life. I will "keep my eyes wide open", so that I can "take on the world", "feel like a feather", even when "I am working late." Her music makes me feel understood across the different stages of my life. That is why I am a fan of Sabrina Carpenter. She is a creative, funny, and mesmerizing artist. She may not know me, but she has been a friend through the good and the bad moments of my life. Her music impacted me and continues to impact me because it feels genuine.

I am a queer Latine graduate student currently in Pepperdine University's clinical psychology program with an emphasis on marriage and family therapy. When I get licensed, I want to work with queer youth/ young adults and their families. I especially want to work with the unhoused queer community. I was born and raised in Brazil so I speak Portuguese and English. I am learning Spanish right now because I want to widen the demographic of patients I can take on in the future. I especially think that understanding the language will be useful not only if I have to conduct sessions with a client primarily in Spanish, but also for my future clients who are bilingual speakers. My first experience with bullying happened so early in my life, I cannot even remember it very well. I know that when I was six years old, I told my mom I was being made fun of and getting picked on by my classmates and that no one would sit with me at lunch. I was bullied in different schools, in different cities, for different "reasons". I have always been an anxious person because of that and have always experienced symptoms of anxiety. I was twelve years old when I started actively struggling with mental health. I was struggling with an eating disorder, an anxiety disorder and a depressive disorder. My first anxiety attack happened three months before my thirteenth birthday. I was being bullied at school and every time I would walk around the halls, people would scream names at me (which I will not disclose because it is very personal and inappropriate). One of the reasons why I want to work with teenagers and young adults is because I know first-hand just how intense those years are for people. I experienced several instances of bullying, racism, sexism, heterosexism and xenophobia before the age of 21. I want to provide a space in which patients feel comfortable enough to talk about experiences with these topics. I want to get my License in Marriage and Family Therapy (LMFT), my License in Professional Clinical Counseling (LPCC), become a member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), get certified with the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT). I want to use those qualifications to provide the care patients need and deserve. I want to work with underserved communities, more specifically, I want to work with unhoused queer individuals. Everyone deserves access to mental healthcare. I want to do my part to make that a reality.

As someone who wants to be a Marriage and Family Therapist, I can say that caring for my mental health is not only important to me as an individual but it is also imperative for my career path. Taking care of my mental health allows me to be better as an individual, as a daughter, as a sister, as a partner, as a friend and as a future therapist. I have been through quite a few traumatic experiences that have been extremely hard to heal from. But I do my best to put in the work every single day to get to the point in which I feel healed and safe. Whether it is a therapy session, meditating before going to sleep, exercising, spending time with my loved ones, taking a break, or practicing gratitude, I try to incorporate at least one act of self-care into my daily schedule. I have dealt with difficult moments in my mental health which allowed me to learn so much about myself and how strong I am. It took a lot of time for me to be able to process the pain that I have experienced in a healthy way and to be able to look back on it without negative emotions towards myself. And this journey of learning about myself, about what's good for my mental health, about my triggers and my "glimmers", has been, of course, a rollercoaster, but taking care of my mental health is one of the most important aspects of my life because it has allowed me to learn how to treat myself with kindness. If I can't be kind to myself, how can I expect my future patients to do it? How can I expect my future patients to take care of their mental health if I don't take care of mine? Thus, I must put in the effort to take care of my mental and physical health so that I am healthy enough to take care of the people around me. I am doing it for me and them. So when you ask me if I believe my mental health is important, the answer is: absolutely. I am extremely thankful for the people in my life that have given me the support that I needed to accept that taking good care of my mental health is important. Without their support, I probably would still be scared to talk about the things in my life, engaging in extremely unhealthy behavior and letting my triggers control my life. I guess that's what I am grateful for today.