Writing is incredibly important to me as a way to promote representation for LGBTQ+, disabled, and BIPOC communities. Personally, I'm a queer and trans disabled Black person, meaning all of these communities appear in my written work. Currently I am applying to graduate creative writing programs to be able to publish work focused on these communities, giving us more of a voice. I'm primarily a genre fiction writer, specifically speculative and fantasy fiction. All of my characters are queer and about ninety percent are queer and/or trans, with another fifty percent being disabled as well. I don't write coming of age stories, and I don't believe in writing works that focus on the suffering and pain of the aforementioned communities because I feel that its time to move past those works and give voice to other experiences. That being said, I do write stories that focus on difficult topics such as grief, trauma, and abuse with the goal of bringing attention to these issues, but also emphasizing that the pain of these situations aren't permanent and don't last forever. There are so many opportunities to blend identity into fiction that doesn't have to focus solely on their identity -- it's a part of the story, but not the point. Emotional impact and relatability are important to my work and I always write with my personal identities in mind. I've known that I am queer since 2016, though came out officially in 2018, and I have been out as a trans nonbinary person for six years now, as of this past January. Being Black and trans are major parts of my identity that have a very visible effect on my life. It's difficult enough being Black in society, but adding on the aspect of transness it becomes more complicated. It's worse for trans women, though navigating society as a trans masculine person has its own fair share of difficulties, especially with my disability and chronic illnesses being added to the mix. For all its challenges, I love being trans. I love being queer, and I love being Black. Disability is complicated, but I'm always thankful that no matter how much of a mess it is it has still gotten me this far in life. I'm able to keep doing what I love though sometimes it's a little harder than I'd like. Coming out has been one of the best experiences in my life because it's given me a chance to live freely as myself, challenges included. I write because I want other people to be able to experience that same pride in their identities, talk about the hard things society doesn't like to analyze, and give them a voice -- something we've been fighting for for so many years, and likely more years to come.

I've spent a large majority of my life dealing with mental health challenges, both with and without support. I still am learning how to manage and navigate my depression and anxiety, but I've learned in the past three or so years that mental illness has no place running my life. My mind may not be my best friend, but it doesn't get to control me, and it doesn't get to define me either. These realizations were a long time coming, but they did help me re-evaluate what I wanted to do with my life. They helped me realize how much I love to help people, as well as how little I've learned about myself throughout my childhood. By deciding to study and hopefully go into a career as a psychologist, I'll be able to be the support that I didn't have for others. I want to be able to show someone that just because they're not "normal" by societal standards, they're perfect as they are, something I wish I had been told by professionals when I was young. Since formatting this goal, I've been able to explore who I am as a person and what I want in life. I've been able to learn that I am allowed to be vulnerable and I am allowed to trust others, and that has opened me up to new relationships and new experiences. I've improved my relationship with my parents, I've experienced (succeeded and failed) romantic relationships, and I've allowed myself to grow and heal through advocating for myself. That being said, I haven't completely changed because I am still learning. At the same time, that's the beauty of growing up in a sense. I've spent a long time struggling, now I get to heal. My experiences with my mental illnesses aren't necessarily always positive though, silver lining notwithstanding. I've been hospitalized, I've changed medication a multitude of times, and I haven't always been heard by the people I care about. I'm a naturally anxious person; I have a tendency to overthink and second guess myself. I'm still learning how to talk about my needs and I'm still learning how to let a situation go as it will. My mind likes to make itself my enemy at times. But that's normal I'd imagine. It just means that the journey isn't over yet. So far it hasn't negatively effected any important relationships, but it can be difficult for both myself and the people I care about to handle sometimes, and that's okay. Mental health issues run in my family, which makes my experience with them more normalized than some others. That being said, the commonality of mental health challenges makes me more passionate about doing my part to help people and advocate for improvement in mental health support throughout my journey of learning to manage my own. People who have mental illnesses, disorders, and/or challenges are still people. We're just as "normal" as everyone else, in the way that there is no real normal. Everyone is different and deals with their own struggles in life. That's the beauty of life: there's nuance and individualism in everything and everyone. So while I may have struggled, I've also grown and improved as a person. I'm not letting my issues control me, I'm going to live my life how I want to.

I myself struggle with mental health--specifically clinical depression and an anxiety disorder--and over the course of my life I have seen many therapists, heard much of the stigma surrounding mental health issues in children, and seen my illnesses be romanticized and under explained. It's irritating how little people know about mental health issues and disorders, choosing to see them all as a monolithic experience and ignoring others when they attempt to explain the nuances. No two sufferers experience their disorders in the same way, there is individualism even in mental health issues. Personality disorders aren't the same as an anxiety disorder, a mood disorder isn't the same as a personality disorder and so on and so forth, and I wish more people understood that. That is why I want to go into a mental health profession; I want to advocate for people who go ignored and put into a box that doesn't fit them, I want to help people manage and navigate their struggles while allowing them to feel "normal". There's nothing wrong with me or them, and I hope to impart that message through my career. I usually advocate for mental health education. This is typically through creative works as I both write spoken word poetry and songs. I am a singer and poet and I use my writings to bring attention to mental health struggles and experiences surrounding difficult emotions. I believe in education as the best form of advocacy, followed by resourced and well-informed support. If I can teach someone at least one thing on a mental health based topic that they didn't know before, then I know that I've planted a seed for more education. At the same time, I understand that people will learn things when they choose to, and I cannot rush that process or they won't learn anything at all. This is why I perform my advocacy through music and poetry, as people tend to listen better to mediums that don't force them to memorize or study a topic. I plan to continue my efforts in advocating and education through my written works and hopefully learning more tools myself so that I can provide support during my career. I will continue to showcase my writings and music to hopefully impart at least some knowledge, and I will keep pushing the message that we're all normal. There's nothing wrong with any one of us in this world, and no experience is monolithic, if it was the world would be quite boring. It's okay to struggle sometimes, that doesn't make anyone weak. I want to be able to show people that. That's my biggest goal in life and I'm determined to achieve it.

Mental health difficulties are extremely common, more so than many think. It's especially prevalent in young children and teenagers, but often the younger you are the less likely you are to receive support. In our current society, mental health issues are treated with a great deal of stigma. Young people are treated as if they have no reason to be struggling, and thus they often don't share their struggles with adults for fear of not being listened to or being seen as weak. For those that are able to gain support, the next issue that comes up is finances. Therapy and medication is not by any means inexpensive, and it can be difficult to find the right therapist and medication in order to heal from mental health struggles. Certain mental illnesses also require multiple treatments and take time to manage and navigate, and everyone reacts to their struggles in different ways. Affordable therapeutic and medical services should be made more widespread for everyone. Even people without mental health struggles can benefit from speaking with a therapist, as far as I'm concerned. People who are struggling tend to choose not to seek help is because the resources they need aren't available to them due to finances as well as the stigma of receiving help, and younger people don't have the money available to pay for these services as it is. If therapy and medication is made more accessible to people, and the stigma is minimized, more people will likely try to get the support they need to heal and thrive. There needs to be a societal understanding that having poor mental health does not make one weak or needy, and resources need to be accessible or else more and more people will end up suffering and the cycle will continue.