As someone who has always found the brain fascinating, I have been interested in pursuing the field of psychology, getting my master’s in it. I want to use this degree to become a mental-health therapist for teenage adolescents. I have wanted to be a therapist since finding out just how many of my friends and people in my life struggle with mental health issues, and wishing I could help them! My goal is to do what I can and use the knowledge I have retained to help teenagers with their mental-health struggles, providing support for them during difficult times, and volunteering in my community, especially schools. With my career as a therapist, I also aim to do charity work, as well as advocating for those who are affected by mental health struggles. As someone with a niche interest and passion in the effects of media, such as social media, on the brain, I want to especially focus on how social media ties to many mental health struggles. This includes online bullying and harassment, which is so much more prevalent than I think many know. I want to do what I can to advocate for more protection laws on media apps and devices, as well as stand up for those being harmed online by others. As someone who wants to work with teenagers struggling with their mental health, I also aim to be very involved with the middle and high schools in my area, and the community they uphold. Some ways I’ve been thinking about streamlining the convoluted process of obtaining treatment for children struggling with mental health, as well as bullying, is by starting in the schools. I want to help integrate mental health support into schools, as well as bring awareness of how frequent issues like bullying happen, and just how many students and adolescents struggle with their mental health. By bringing awareness, I hope the community will unite to support fundraisers for services, resources, and helping families provide treatment for their children. Something my community recently did that I want to advocate for many schools to do is not only have “bullying” reports, but also “incident” reports. Originally, they only had a place to report harmful behavior if it had been happening consistently, and by then, the harm was already done. However, now they have a way to report a single incident and hopefully get things taken care of before they become frequent and cause long-lasting harm. I also like how they have “Vector Alerts”, an anonymous bullying and harassment report system. I believe things like these should be implemented in all schools to help combat bullying, and in return, hopefully decrease the level of mental health struggles. Overall, I want to use my master’s degree in psychology to work with teenagers with their mental health, supporting them. In my community, I want to advocate for protection from bullying—both in person and online, as well as educate the community, help provide support resources, and run fundraisers to support families struggling with mental health problems that they are unable to get treatment for. I want to use my life and my career to help make my community—and in return, the world—a better place.