I began identifying the mental health struggles I had and still have to this day in 7th grade. As a person who aspired to have high academic accomplishments, I only saw mental health and the possible struggles with it as a way to hold me back from getting the best marks on my report card. I desired to see a therapist for all of the new feelings and struggles that I seemed to be going through that before, didn't seem to be an issue, but I was dismissed as just going through puberty and being overdramatic. This further sent me into a spiral of bottled up feelings and dismissal of my own mental health. I ignored the signs of anxiety when entering crowds and confronting people when they hurt me. Each time I became depressed by a slight trigger, seemingly out of nowhere, I would cry silently in my room until I could damp a cold cloth on my face so no one would know I was crying. It wasn't until my senior year of high school (less than one year ago) when these struggles would affect my schoolwork that the waves of emotions I was dealing with could be held back no longer. I gained intense anxiety from walking into school, fearing that everyone could see right through me and know how I had just cried that morning. I became desperate to find any solution to my problems so I sought out my high school counselor who first validated the emotions and feelings I was having. Just knowing that I wasn't being too sensitive or weak for wanting help was a huge step. In gaining that little bit of insight, I was able to gain the courage to seek out therapy once again. Just from that little amount of gained knowledge, I was able to convince my family of the necessity for therapy and finally made my first appointment. Just after a few appointments, so many things began to make sense. Although I didn't immediately get better at coping, I could finally put a finger on the different experiences I would deal with daily. Through therapy, I learned the roots of most of my problems and how I could work through them all, both by thinking through them and understanding the physiological cycles and responses that my body will go through to almost keep me in a panicked state. I could also recognize when I started to find myself in one of these self-destructive cycles and work towards avoiding them, possibly by doing a simple exercise such as breathing. From a young age, I desired to be a doctor. There was no other option when people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I always saw myself in the operating room, helping fix people in ways they didn't know how to themselves. Little did I know that I could help others in ways that weren't necessarily physical. My interest in how the brain works began when my sister began attending college to eventually work as a psychiatrist. I listened to the information and interesting facts that she would relay back home from an outside perspective, always thinking that it was someone else who had to deal with these problems. After experiencing them myself and gaining a better perspective of how many people also go through similar things, I settled on majoring in psychology to aid and eventually spread awareness to kids like me who need that helping hand, not because they're broken but because they just don't have the full picture.

I am a huge proponent of promoted mental health awareness and the need to take care of it. As seemingly ineffective as it may seem to those at first, I know that I never would have sought out help personally if not for knowing that any struggles I may be going through are normal and that seeking help is not a weakness. As a practical solution, I would propose starting a social media account, primarily an Instagram page, that would share daily facts as well as tips regarding mental health through regular posts. One would be able to gain a large following as well as reach a new and larger audience who might not know much at first with this medium. Important contact information for those in time-sensitive and high-risk situations can be posted permanently on the front page in easily accessible locations such as highlights which are seen easily when initially clicking on the account. Other information for more in depth resources such as contact info for a counseling site can also be posted there as well. My idea with this solution is that those who are on social media can see this page as a way to just learn more about themselves or seek out ways to help others they know who are struggling but can also use it as a resource to gain that essential help when necessary. Just being able to spread awareness in the first place is something I strongly believe would be useful for people who struggle with mental health.

I began identifying the mental health struggles I had and still have to this day in 7th grade. As a person who aspired to have high academic accomplishments, I only saw mental health and the possible struggles with it as a way to hold me back from getting the best marks on my report card. I desired to see a therapist for all of the new feelings and struggles that I seemed to be going through that before, didn't seem to be an issue, but I was dismissed as just going through puberty and being overdramatic. This further sent me into a spiral of bottled up feelings and dismissal of my own mental health. I ignored the signs of anxiety when entering crowds and confronting people when they hurt me. Each time I became depressed by a slight trigger, seemingly out of nowhere, I would cry silently in my room until I could damp a cold cloth on my face so no one would know I was crying. It wasn't until my senior year of high school (less than one year ago) when these struggles would affect my schoolwork that the waves of emotions I was dealing with could be held back no longer. I gained intense anxiety from walking into school, fearing that everyone could see right through me and know how I had just cried that morning. I became desperate to find any solution to my problems so I sought out my high school counselor who first validated the emotions and feelings I was having. Just knowing that I wasn't being too sensitive or weak for wanting help was a huge step. In gaining that little bit of insight, I was able to gain the courage to seek out therapy once again. Just from that little amount of gained knowledge, I was able to convince my family of the necessity for therapy and finally made my first appointment. Just after a few appointments, so many things began to make sense. Although I didn't immediately get better at coping, I could finally put a finger on the different experiences I would deal with daily. Through therapy, I learned the roots of most of my problems and how I could work through them all, both by thinking through them and understanding the physiological cycles and responses that my body will go through to almost keep me in a panicked state. I could also recognize when I started to find myself in one of these self-destructive cycles and work towards avoiding them, possibly by doing a simple exercise such as breathing. From a young age, I desired to be a doctor. There was no other option when people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I always saw myself in the operating room, helping fix people in ways they didn't know how to themselves. Little did I know that I could help others in ways that weren't necessarily physical. My interest in how the brain works began when my sister began attending college to eventually work as a psychiatrist. I listened to the information and interesting facts that she would relay back home from an outside perspective, always thinking that it was someone else who had to deal with these problems. After experiencing them myself and gaining a better perspective of how many people also go through similar things, I settled on majoring in psychology to aid and eventually spread awareness to kids like me who need that helping hand, not because they're broken but because they just don't have the full picture.