Growing up, life was not easy. I grew up in an environment where my parents would fight all the time, and most nights ended with one of them yelling. I remember sitting behind a green frayed couch with my sister listening to them while in the meantime, keeping my sister from crying. In the seventh grade, I was diagnosed with depression and sought help at a counseling office close to my home. My very first therapist, Kay, was the kindest person I've ever met. She radiated joy and did a fantastic job at making me feel safe enough to open up about my feelings. She helped me a lot and is one of the reasons I am who I am today. Moving forward to freshmen year, my parents got divorced, and it was really hard. Through that experience, I learned that I am capable of hard things, and my circumstances do not define who I am as well as the way that I carry myself. I learned that joy is a deep satisfaction despite the circumstances. At the end of the school year, I volunteered at this kid's camp that was dedicated to foster children. I fell in love with each of the kids as I watched their personalities bloom after spending a week of being a kid and learning how to trust. It was such a gift to be a positive light in their own personal stories. I've volunteered at this camp ever since. This camp, Royal Family Kids Camp, is my biggest inspiration as to why I want to go into the mental health field. These kids have no control over their circumstances, so to have the privilege to help counsel them is a blessing. Through my career, I plan to make a positive impact by specifically going into addictions counseling. A majority of the kids who were apart of the camp were placed into the foster care system due to their parents being some sort of an addict. According to a survey from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "Nearly 49 million people in the U.S. ages 12 and older had a substance abuse disorder in 2022". The impact I would be making is helping these people overcome their addictions as well as restoring relationships that were once broken due to substance abuse. Not only would I be making a positive impact by this, but I would also be addressing the societal issue of drug and alcohol abuse. I do not just want to be a counselor whose main goal is to solve the problem; I want to be a relational counselor like Kay was to me. My goal is to be a counselor who gets to know her patients personally and sees them for who they are rather than what their addiction has made them to be.