As the first in my family to pursue higher education, I am deeply motivated by my own struggles with mental health and the lack of mental health education in some cultures. Growing up as a first-generation Filipina, I witnessed firsthand how mental health is not always openly discussed or fully understood within my community. In many cultures, including my own, mental health is often stigmatized, misunderstood, or overlooked altogether. This absence of open dialogue surrounding mental health inspired me to pursue a career as a therapist. I want to be part of the change that brings mental health into the conversation, helping to break down the barriers of silence and shame that surround it. My personal experiences with mental health have played a significant role in shaping my career aspirations. I understand what it feels like to struggle silently, to not have the words or the support system needed to address the emotional and psychological challenges that so many face. These struggles have given me a unique perspective and a deep sense of empathy, allowing me to connect with others on a much deeper level. I know how important it is to have someone who listens without judgment and offers support in times of need. This realization is what drives me every day as I continue my education and training in the field of therapy. As I progress in my studies, I am learning the essential tools and techniques necessary to address the stigma surrounding mental health, especially within communities where it has traditionally been overlooked or misunderstood. I am committed to creating a safe space for people to share their struggles without fear of judgment or discrimination. Through education, awareness, and compassionate care, I want to help others navigate their mental health journeys and empower them to take charge of their well-being. By offering support, I hope to ensure that no one ever feels alone in their mental health struggles. Ultimately, my goal as a therapist is to make a meaningful and lasting impact on the lives of others. I want to offer a source of comfort, understanding, and healing to those who need it most. Just as I am working to heal and grow through my own experiences, I aim to help others find their path to healing, resilience, and self-empowerment. Through this work, I hope to be part of a larger movement that prioritizes mental health, creating a world where seeking help is seen as a sign of strength rather than weakness.

Growing up as an Asian American woman, I faced unique cultural expectations and pressures that shaped my outlook on life, mental health, and the future. As a young person, I struggled with depression, anxiety, and PTSD—challenges that were complicated by the stigma around mental health within my family and community. In our culture, mental health issues are often misunderstood or dismissed, which made it difficult for me to express my struggles or seek help. The pressure to succeed academically and uphold certain ideals left little room for emotional vulnerability, and for years, I felt isolated in my pain. When I lost my close friend to suicide, everything changed. Their death forced me to confront the fragility of life and the deep impact that untreated mental health issues can have. The grief I experienced was profound, and it opened my eyes to the importance of addressing mental health with the same care and attention as physical health. This tragedy was the turning point in my life, leading me to realize the value of my own existence and the need to help others facing similar struggles. The loss of my friend led me to reflect on my own battle with mental health. I had been on the brink of taking my life in my teenage years, weighed down by the same feelings that contributed to my friend's tragic decision. In facing my grief, I found a renewed sense of purpose and began to appreciate the gift of life. I realized that my personal struggles had given me a unique perspective and understanding that could be used to help others who were going through similar pain. Choosing to pursue psychology or psychiatry comes from a deep desire to turn my personal experiences into a source of strength for others. I want to help individuals who, like me, have faced mental health challenges but have not had the resources or support to navigate them. I want to create an environment where people can feel heard, validated, and understood. Through my education and training, I aim to become a therapist and provide people with the tools they need to heal and grow, especially those from underrepresented or marginalized communities where mental health issues are often ignored or misunderstood. As an Asian American woman, my background has played a significant role in shaping my path toward this field. I’ve witnessed firsthand how cultural norms can influence one’s willingness to seek help for mental health struggles. Within my community, there is often a reluctance to discuss or seek help for mental health issues, as doing so may be seen as a sign of weakness or failure. This cultural stigma not only perpetuates silence but also worsens the struggles of those in need. I want to be a part of breaking that silence—creating spaces where people of all backgrounds, especially those from Asian American communities, can feel safe and supported in their mental health journeys. Through pursuing psychology or psychiatry, I aspire to use my personal experiences and cultural understanding to create change. I am motivated to help others navigate their pain, offer guidance, and provide the kind of support I wish I had during my darkest moments. In honoring my friend’s memory, I’m determined to ensure that others do not have to endure their struggles alone. I believe that by embracing both my Asian American heritage and my personal experience, I can offer a unique perspective that will make a meaningful difference in the lives of those who need it most.

Losing a close friend and cousin to suicide is an experience that completely reshapes the way one views the world, oneself, and life in general. The grief that follows is not just deep and painful—it is also layered with confusion, guilt, and a sense of isolation. When I reflect on the struggles of PTSD, depression, and anxiety that I’ve faced at a young age, it becomes clear how these mental health challenges intensified in the wake of such a devastating loss. My journey through this grief has taught me more about resilience and personal growth than I ever could have imagined. At a young age, I was already grappling with mental health issues. Depression, anxiety, and PTSD were struggles that shaped my outlook on life, making me feel like I was stuck in a constant battle with my own thoughts and emotions. These feelings were often overwhelming and led me to believe that there was no way out. The constant weight of these emotions pushed me to the edge, and I even attempted to take my own life as a teenager. The pain felt unbearable, and I couldn’t see beyond my struggles at the time. But the loss of my cousin and close friend to suicide shifted everything. Their deaths forced me to confront the fragility of life in a way I hadn’t expected. In the wake of their tragic passing, I was faced with the painful realization that I had been standing at the very same crossroads that took them away. This realization became the catalyst for a profound change in my life. I began to see the value of my own existence, something that I had struggled to grasp before. I realized that the pain I had been carrying could be used as a source of strength, not a reason to end my life. I struggled with the idea that I wasn’t enough, both for them and for myself. However, through this sorrow, I began to understand that grief does not have a linear path, and that healing doesn’t happen overnight. I realized that it was okay to not have all the answers and to feel a mix of emotions. Healing is a journey, not a destination. Over time, I began to appreciate my life more deeply. I no longer took my existence for granted, and I understood how precious the opportunity to live is. As I worked through my own pain, I became determined to help others who were struggling with similar mental health challenges. I realized that my experience, though painful, had given me a unique perspective that could be used to make a positive impact on the lives of others. Education has played a critical role in this transformation. I’ve learned that the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills is a gift, one that can empower me to become a therapist. Through my education, I want to help others who face the same struggles with mental health, guiding them through the darkness and showing them that there is always hope, even in the most difficult moments. I want to give back, to support those who are going through the kind of pain I once felt, and to help them realize that their lives are worth living. Looking ahead, I feel more driven than ever. I continue to live in honor of my friend and cousin, striving to make them proud by turning my pain into purpose. Through my journey, I’ve come to understand that even in the most challenging of times, there is the potential for growth, healing, and ultimately, the opportunity to help others.

My mental health plays a crucial role in my academic performance and personal life as a first-generation Filipina psychology major at Chabot College. I’ve faced numerous challenges, including homelessness, ADHD, depression, anxiety, and PTSD, which have impacted my educational journey. While these struggles continue to affect me, I remain determined to overcome them, keeping in mind that persistence is key. ADHD often makes it hard to stay focused in class and complete assignments on time. I struggle with procrastination and frequently feel overwhelmed by the workload. Depression and anxiety further complicate things, leaving me fatigued, unmotivated, or unable to concentrate. These conditions can negatively affect my grades and academic performance. However, I am driven by my passion for psychology, which helps me push through these difficulties. I chose this field because I want to understand my mental health better and eventually help others who face similar challenges. My academic path serves as both a personal goal and a reminder that resilience can lead to success. PTSD, stemming from past trauma, also impacts both my academic and personal life. Triggers can sometimes derail my focus and leave me emotionally exhausted, making it difficult to engage in schoolwork. These emotional setbacks remind me of my personal struggles, yet they also reinforce my resilience. Although these moments of struggle can leave me feeling isolated, I use them as an opportunity to reflect on how far I’ve come. They serve as a reminder that overcoming trauma is an ongoing process. To prioritize my mental health, I’ve implemented several strategies that help me cope with the daily demands of school and life. One of the most important steps I take is practicing self-care. I schedule time for activities that help me relax and recharge, such as spending quality time with my partner, journaling, or exercising. These breaks are essential for my well-being and help me prevent burnout. I’ve learned the importance of balance and making time for rest when my mental health needs attention. Therapy has also been instrumental in managing my ADHD, PTSD, depression, and anxiety. It provides me with tools to handle difficult emotions and cope with my mental health challenges in healthier ways. Counseling helps me gain insight into my struggles and equips me with strategies for managing stress and emotional turbulence. Additionally, I incorporate mindfulness practices like meditation into my routine to stay grounded when stress levels rise. These practices help me focus on the present and reduce the mental clutter that can overwhelm me. Academically, I’ve learned to advocate for myself. I communicate with my professors when I need accommodations due to my ADHD, ensuring that I have the resources and support I need to succeed. I also utilize counseling services at Chabot College to help manage my mental health and stay on track with my studies. Reaching out for help has been a crucial step in reducing the pressure I feel and ensuring that I don’t neglect my mental well-being in the pursuit of academic success. Though I still face obstacles in managing my mental health, I continue to move forward. I acknowledge that setbacks are a part of the journey, and each small victory—whether it's getting through a challenging class or handling an anxiety episode—is a step toward personal growth. My resilience is what keeps me going, reminding me that while my struggles are ongoing, I have the strength to rise above them. Prioritizing my mental health is a continuous process, and while I may still face difficulties, I remain committed to taking care of myself and never giving up on my dreams.

Growing up in a low-income immigrant household has made me see the hardships not only my family faced but those of my friends of the common minority. It has made me very hungry for education but I have fallen victim to struggles and mental traps in the years due to the low motivation I find myself when I see how hard I must work compared to my other cohorts. I currently major in Psychology and minor in Medical Coding, at Chabot College, it is my first year and I am still currently an undergraduate working my way up to my AA degree and plan to further my education at a University, and possibly grad school so that I can achieve a doctorate. I believe due to experiencing socioeconomic adversity has shaped my way of thinking, but has also strengthened me and has made me more inclusive and wary of everyone's perspectives. Because of these adversities, it has made me strive for greater, so not only can I rest and live happily, but so can my stepfather who has suffered the loss of our home and bankruptcy due to having difficulty in the job field but also personal disabilities. I want to continue to make success in my life along with all other BIPOC so that we can make a difference and show the world our importance, we can overcome our hardships, and change the way our neighborhoods are viewed. I want to be able to get my health in order, as well as my family's due to our low-income adversity we face poor health care and little to no help for our conditions due to not being able to afford basic human rights. I want to be able to live a well-educated life by putting ease to my financial problems and start a clean slate with my credit since I had fallen into debt like my father and mother just to be able to pay the bills to live. I want a future for myself where my loved ones can live peacefully and my future children do not have to go through the emotional damage and financial adversities I faced with my family. Due to these problems, we have our set of problems and it has made it very difficult to keep a healthy relationship with family, for the sake of my mental health, and I never want this to be a problem in my future or with my children.

Growing up in a low-income household, I saw the multiple hardships my immigrant mother and father faced. My father worked so hard but they both fell into debt resulting in the loss of our home. My mother has just recovered from a stroke and was disabled before that due to back injuries. I don't hold the best relationship with them due to our different views, about identity and lifestyles, but I still want to give back to my dad. I have never known my real father too well, so having my stepfather as the stability in my life has helped me more than he knows, and I want to get a great education so that when he passes he can do so confidently and with no regrets. I want to assure my father that I have stability and will be able to live a fruitful life and get a career that I can be happy doing in the field of psychology. In the field of psychology, I want to pursue being a therapist for families or children, especially LGBTQ+ inclusive, so that I can help stop cycles of worsening health conditions, because of the difficulties I personally faced in my life. When I was growing up mental health was not something that immigrant Filipino parents considered, at least mine did not. My mother was especially unsupportive and had belittled me for it and my father followed suit because he knew no better. I can now forgive them knowing they did the best they could with what they know but I can still accept that it hurt me and that I want to be able to bridge that gap of understanding for other families who may have a hard time communicating with their loved ones due to stigmas, misunderstandings or complications. It would bring me great joy knowing I pursued higher education to help others help themselves, and make everyone's lives a little brighter and a little more functional. As a person with high-functioning ADHD, PTSD, anxiety, depression, and problems I faced being queer identifying I know that I can use my experiences and conditions as strengths rather than hold me back, and be able to make that connection through education by helping change the world as my driving force. I want to prove to myself that I continued being here today and made a difference in my own life when I didn’t even believe in myself at one point. I want to not only make a life-changing difference in the field of psychology, I want to make self-help accessible to minority groups that get left behind, just like I did growing up.

I am an undergraduate BIPOC student in the LGBTQ+ community with a current GPA of 3.80. I believe that I can make a difference in the healthcare community as I am currently starting my journey to major in Psychology to either become a child/young teen therapist, help with marriage therapy, or possibly a school counselor. Growing up I had a hard upbringing not realizing the importance of taking care of mental health, as I grew up as a first-generation mixed Filipina American, my parents didn't understand that mental health exists. To this day mental health disabilities are seen as "invisible illnesses". I want to help exacerbate that stigma, especially in the BIPOC community, to show more awareness that is stagnant in plenty of these communities and LGBTQ+ youth and older generations. I want to have a placeholder in people's hearts to always be a decent human being in spreading the awareness of the possibilities of the highest quality of life, and to be able to help others help themselves. To allow a safe space for those to grow and reach their highest potential in life, because I believe that creating waves of healthy mental health will allow others to spread that attitude, and help educate those around them. As a BIPOC, there is a substantial amount of situations that dawn on our mental health growing from early childhood, including environment, background, racial upbringing, psychological distress, socioeconomic factors, and much more. On top of immigration and poverty problems that go along with the situation, all these problems mix up to continue to infect the mental stability of the whole family, including the younger generation due to the stress that the older generation must endure. As this article states, “Between 2011 and 2015, there was a 28% overall increase in psychiatric emergency department visits per 1,000 youth. This increase in youth psychiatric emergency department visits was sharpest among the youth of color, with 54% and 91% increases among Black and Latinx youth, respectively.” (Lilly, 2022) On top of BIPOC communities, LGBTQ+ communities go hand and hand with a lack of care for mental health, due to similar discriminations, factually and from a personal point of view as I come from both backgrounds. Plenty of LGBTQ+ faces horrible mental health conditions, on top of more of a lack of parental guidance or shelter, as plenty end up being in an unsupportive or homeless situation. From ages ranging 10-24 years old, "The Trevor Project estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ youth (13-24) seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S. — and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds." (Trevor Project, 2022) On top of all the negative impacts, BIPOC is a constant target of racial based violence, which also arose during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Many racial-driven assaults arose, that was targeted towards Black and Brown and plenty of Asian communities. On top of these negative events rising, it is already known that the highest rates in the world are BIPOC countries, due to the lack of resources, lack of mental health education, and the constant mental health stigmas. I believe that we really need to push the agenda to help BIPOC and LGBTQ+ because helping minds is the key to helping our lives. Bibliography Lilly, Samantha. “Marginalization in BIPOC Neighborhoods Leads to Mental Health Crises.” Mad In America, 20 Dec. 2022, https://www.madinamerica.com/2022/12/marginalization-bipoc-neighborhoods-leads-mental-health-crises/. “BIPOC Mental Health Trends and Disparities.” Anxiety Disorders and Depression Research &, 21 Apr. 2022, https://adaa.org/learn-from-us/from-the-experts/blog-posts/consumer-professional/bipoc-mental-health-trends-and. “Suicide Rate by Country 2023.” Suicide Rate by Country 2023, https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/suicide-rate-by-country. “Facts about LGBTQ Youth Suicide.” The Trevor Project, 25 Oct. 2022, https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/article/facts-about-lgbtq-youth-suicide/.

As a proud Filipina, I am the first generation in my family to be US-born and to hold a college education. I strongly identify with my roots and want to prove to my parents that I can still find success in the medical field without being a nurse. I want to break the mold and have the opportunity to gain a Ph.D. in Therapy and help many people of different backgrounds, including those similar to myself that faced a tough low-income struggle and not-so-understanding Filipino parents when it came to the invisibility of my ADHD, mental health, and the struggles I faced because of it. I want the ability to make a difference and higher the percentage of Filipino Americans that continue into post-graduate school. I always believe that there is never any end to learning in this lifetime and will proudly continue doing so knowing it will help not only myself but have the opportunity to aid my step-father's retirement. My parents not only sacrificed the life they had in Pampanga and Manila for better options for themselves in life but morally for my sister and me. I want to strive for the most I can in my education, so I can financially support my parents, so we can visit their homes and my family members in the Philippines again. My parents had a bit of a scare in 2013 when both of my grandparents fell extremely ill, and just recently had been hit by the Manila tsunami. They are in better spirits now, but I want to have the capability to send them back to the US or any useful materials they need. With 16% of the Filipino population living under the poverty line, I seek to help fund non-profits for the Philippines when I become successful, concerning areas with starvation, poor sanitation, and dirty water sources that occur in more than 4 million households. Coming from a low-income household I can only lightly sympathize as our conditions are much more privileged in the US. With that being said these are the main reasons that I hold deep in my heart, that keep me striving for a better future for not only myself but all my fellow Filipino siblings across the US to the homeland. Cite: Habitat for Humanity. "Homeless World Cup." 2021, https://www.homelessworldcup.org/philippines