My family’s mental health struggles and experiences are what has led me down a specific school and eventual career path. My goal of practicing child psychology and being involved in studying and researching child mental illnesses and suicide causes and prevention is reflected through the struggles we have faced. Both of my parents have suffered from anxiety for as long as I can remember. My father's issues being so bad that he would frequently have to be driven to the hospital because he felt like he was dying; but the doctors would always tell him that he was fine and that it was simply just anxiety and panic attacks he was experiencing. My mother’s fights with anxiety are less severe and noticeable, but I know she struggles every day. She does a good job hiding and handling it, but I can always tell when it is bad, and when she is having a hard time. Ultimately, I have also ended up battling with anxiety. I never realized I had it until my junior and senior years of high school. Growing up, I just thought the feelings of extreme nervousness and the pit in my stomach was normal and that everyone felt it from time to time like I did. However, it began to worsen as I started getting older. I had been a dancer for around eleven years, and I loved it. Dancing, no matter what kind, had been the one thing that I had fallen in love with. But, because of my struggles with anxiety and how severe my anxiety symptoms like panic/anxiety attacks, vomiting, body shakes, and heart palpitations during the beginning of my senior year, I had to quit my dance team and give up the one thing I loved so much because I just couldn’t do it anymore. I was exhausted from having to deal with the symptoms every day and they would majorly flare up whenever I would go to perform with my team, so I decided the best decision for me was to give it up and work on getting my mental health back to being okay. I started going to therapy and a couple months into college my anxiety began to ease, because I learned how to handle it better. I still struggle with my anxiety, it will always be an ongoing fight, but I was fortunate enough with the support and help from my family and my therapist to learn how to handle and control my anxiety. I was lucky that my struggle with intense anxiety only lasted for a short time, even though it seemed like forever, because I know other battles aren’t as short and easy. My sister deals with anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and has used self-harm as a means to cope with her issues. I have watched her struggle for years, starting when she was 14 and up until now when she is turning 17. Through different therapists and many hard times, she is slowly getting better (I won’t go into too much detail because it isn’t my story to tell), but it has been a really hard process for both her and my family. Watching someone so young struggle so hard and push through to the other side is devasting yet amazing. The strength that my sister has is my motivation, and I want to help kids like her. I want to help them fight and give them strength and let the know they are not alone and that there is a light at the end of the dark tunnel.