I entered the foster care system at 14, and with this came a revolving door of social workers, and therapists. Because of the adversity I have experienced, losing access to my father to deportation and my mother to substance abuse, I have experienced multiple mental health care providers. I kept feeling unseen, misheard, and stagnant. "They" just didn't get it. Most came from white, privileged backgrounds, having no understanding of what it meant to be a brown woman of color in the United States. I knew that I wanted to be the therapist I never had, I knew that I wanted to be a monarch butterfly in a field of moths. I recognized that the psychology field desperately needed and lacked more diversity. I saw communities of color seeking unique, inclusive support that wasn't coming from existing providers. I knew that the road ahead of me was not going to be short or fast, that it would require ambition, stamina, and most of all perseverance. Now in my doctoral program, the first ever in my family, I look back and there were many points at which I could have quit, stopped, and allowed discouragement to seep in. It came with a fair share of rejections, closed doors, and hard decisions. It still isn't easy, being in a predominantly white field, school, cohort. But nothing has been more rewarding than reaching this place in my studies, having the chance to sit in a new chair, the chair of a therapist, and being able to provide a safe space for clients to bring forth their hurt, pain, and unresolved traumas. It is a sacred task to create a space in which someone can be vulnerable, in which negative emotions are welcomed and guide a person towards self-discovery. I started with getting my bachelor's, walking across the stage of the University of California, Berkeley, working in the ABA field with children on the spectrum, to now doing a practicum at different sites i.e. college counseling settings, and community health centers. This is only the beginning for me, I plan to finish my doctorate and return to California where there is a large Latinx population and provide affordable mental health care, on a sliding scale, either through private practice or working in a community setting. I hope to write textbooks, contribute to new theories, teach future psychologists, or give talks about my experiences. My interests include working with marginalized communities and families, I believe that in doing so, I can be a ripple of change and do something to address the transmission of generational trauma. In the patients, I have had the privilege of working with, and in my own history, there's an awareness that what we've experienced are patterns that our parents and families inherited. And where we find ourselves at this point, in this therapy room, is a radical moment in our lineage, an opportunity for change.

Through my identity as a former foster care student, I was able to find a community of other scholars who’d faced similar adversities. I learned what it was to have a chosen family through the UC Berkeley Hope Scholars, an invaluable support network for foster students. Though there were few of us, we felt validated, we existed, many of us learning to thrive. We all had collective stories of trauma that we shared and came to understand that our foster youth struggles were metastatic. Food and housing insecurities were a common theme amongst us. The foster youth community in spaces of higher education, not only statistically low in numbers (<20%), often face many barriers and face higher rates of homeless and food insecurity compared to their non-foster youth counterparts. Those benefits that come from membership in a stable family often overlooked, and are seemingly invisible. How many students can report that they’ve attended approximately five different elementary schools, four middle schools, and one high school, and made the grades and scores to make it to college? From questions like these came inspiration. Inspiration tasted like dark chocolate. Though initially bitter circumstances brought us all together, once we found a community, rich experiences came about. I was inspired by the resilience demonstrated in many of my BHS peers, who also shared narratives of unstable parents and intersectional troubles being former foster youth while being full-time students at UC Berkeley. It was through this community that I found my McNair research purpose. I made it my goal to bring to the table tangible data, just a taste of what we were up against at Berkeley. I sought to quantify the food insecurities, the frequency of our unstable transitions in care, the struggles with adjustment and sense of belonging we were all facing. Using the tools I acquired in my Psych 101 class Research and Data Analysis, I produced an original survey assessment that yielded tangible resources to help an underserved community I come from. Inspiration had transformed into action and results. Nothing made me prouder than accomplishing my dream of becoming published, having my name exist in literature that I produced. My research on foster students at UC Berkeley resulted in grant funds to address food insecurity within the BHS community. Through this experience I came to recognize the power in supporting adults of socioeconomic or educational disadvantage. Providing supplemental resources to a marginalized at-risk group in an academic setting demonstrated the profound impact food and supplemental income can have on a person’s wellbeing. Consequently, lack of appropriate support can adversely impact a person’s emotional, physical, and financial wellbeing thereby reinforcing the cycles of stress, these cycles in turn can have generational effects. On a systemic level, pipeline patterns emerge and social inequality is reinforced. It is my hope that by diversifying the field with individuals who come from unconventional backgrounds and have lived experience being the recipient of treatment we are able to offer a unique opportunity to challenge existing paradigms of psychology by integrating their personal history to adapt and evolve understandings for providing competent care. Training psychologists to effectively utilize interventions that appropriately understand and competently treat complex cultural issues that pervade marginalized communities can make significant impacts on the transmission of generational trauma and/or systems of dysfunctionality. Being a former foster youth, I know the importance of advocacy, cultural competency, and representation in one’s experience receiving mental health treatment. I seek to be the therapist I never had, I want to see more people in the field who look like me and have a background like mine.

I am a Mexican-American woman who identifies as a former foster youth, foster care is a term used to describe individuals who were removed from their home of origin and placed into the care of other court designated guardians. As an individual who aged out of the foster care system, witnessing a lack of representation within the clinical field when receiving therapeutic services, inspired me to become a psychologist. Managing the damaging effects of my father’s deportation as my family seemingly disintegrated at the seams was nothing short of traumatic. A revolving door of child protective service professionals documenting it all came short in providing any substantial relief. School served as a safe haven, a reliable environment where one can invest energy and attention into academia. To me it was an arena where I could fight and prove myself and still aim to be as prosperous as any other student who did not have to worry about going home. During my undergraduate career I witnessed peers in my cohort of foster youth drop out of college. I saw students of this background including myself face many barriers including but not limited to housing and food insecurity compared to our non foster youth counterparts. Benefits that come from membership in a stable family, often overlooked, and are seemingly invisible. How many students can report that they’ve attended approximately five different elementary schools, four middle schools, and one high school, and made the grades and scores to make it to college? From questions like these came inspiration. Inspiration tasted like dark chocolate. Though initially bitter circumstances brought us all together, once we found a community, rich experiences came about. I was inspired by the resilience demonstrated in many of my foster youth peers, who also shared narratives of unstable parents and intersectional troubles of coming from such a background while being full-time students at UC Berkeley. Through my opportunity with the program of Ronald E. McNair I made it my goal to bring to the table tangible data, quantifying the food insecurities, the frequency of our unstable transitions in care, the struggles with adjustment and sense of belonging we were all facing. I came to recognize the power of food and supplemental income in the wellbeing of at risk adults of socioeconomic or educational disadvantage. Consequently, lack of appropriate support can adversely impact a person’s emotional, physical, and financial wellbeing thereby reinforcing the cycles of stress, these cycles in turn can have generational effects. On a systemic level, we begin to understand how the school to prison pipeline patterns emerge and how social inequality is reinforced. Now in my doctoral program, as a first generation graduate student, I find myself at a new institution with no retention program or support for students who come from the foster youth background, I strive to create a community where I see it is lacking. My hope is to focus my dissertation research around identifying a need and presence of such a community in a state that ranks 4th in the nation for the highest rates of foster care. I seek to make changes in policy/admission processing to identify and provide adequate resources for future generations of foster students in higher education to come at the University of Indianapolis ensuring they have the tools to succeed and strive.

Given my current student loans, I intend to participate in a Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness Program after graduating, which would implicate dedicating a certain amount of time and work within the public sector in exchange for some of my student loans to be forgiven. These public sector work opportunities typically operate in marginalized or disenfranchised communities, which I planned to do regardless of the student loan program, because I come from such a background it is extremely important that I give back to those communities. I also acknowledge how these communities would greatly benefit from having a mental health professional from a minority background that statistically is underrepresented within the field. I also hope to become more familiar with financial literacy and potentially find other avenues of income to pay off student loans and support myself. As a first generation doctoral student I have quite an endeavor to undertake but I rely on my ambition to see me through and connect me with the right opportunities.

As an individual who aged out of the foster care system, witnessing a lack of representation within the clinical field when receiving therapeutic services, inspired me to become a psychologist. Individuals who come from a disadvantaged background like foster care/incarceration tend to be part of the trajectory of young adults that are often not afforded the seemingly invisible benefits that come from membership in a stable family. Coming from a low income background, I don't have reliable financial or emotional support in my endeavors for higher education. Finding compassionate and culturally competent providers who understood the dynamics of being in a Latinx household, or the nuances of being a woman of color was challenging. It revealed a scarcity amongst providers who are able to merge cultural competency not learned through education, but rather through lived experience. I am a woman of color who identifies as Mexican-American and am the first in my family to graduate from college and pursue a doctoral degree in clinical psychology. I felt the drive to merge my passion of advocacy and uplifting marginalized groups with the power of data from psychological research, essentially bridging my interests in both clinical and research applications. I sought to integrate my concurrent teachings of data analysis with my undergraduate fellowship in the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program. I began by selecting my target population, a group that I also identify with, the Berkeley Hope Scholars (BHS) Program. This on-campus academic retention program provides invaluable support to incoming freshman, transfer, and continuing undergraduate students who are currently in foster care, recently emancipated from care or are orphaned, and certified independent by the Financial Aid Office. Utilizing the modules being taught in my Psych 101 course, I developed an original research proposal. My findings concluded that these students had experienced on average more than 5 placement (household/guardian) changes prior to admission to college, numerical results attesting to food and housing insecurities, and a correlation demonstrating that participants who experienced more placement changes had lower adjustment scores than those with fewer changes. In addition to being published in the Berkeley McNair Research Journal, my research was used to secure a grant focused on combating food insecurity among BHS students. These supplemental resources provided invaluable information on budgeting, nutrition, access to a free meal and cooking supplies. Through this experience I came to recognize the power in supporting adults of socioeconomic or educational disadvantage. Providing supplemental resources to a marginalized at risk group in an academic setting demonstrated the profound impact food and supplemental income can have on a person’s wellbeing. Consequently, lack of appropriate support can adversely impact a person’s emotional, physical, and financial wellbeing thereby reinforcing the cycles of stress, these cycles in turn can have generational effects. On a systemic level, pipeline patterns emerge and social inequality is reinforced. It is my hope that by diversifying the field with individuals who come from unconventional backgrounds and have lived experience being the recipient of treatment we are able to offer a unique opportunity to challenge existing paradigms of psychology by integrating their personal history to adapt and evolve understandings for providing competent care. Training psychologists to effectively utilize interventions that appropriately understand and competently treat complex cultural issues that pervade marginalized communities can make significant impacts in the transmission of generational trauma and/or systems of dysfunctionality. With these funds for my education, I seek to provide a lens not well represented amongst psychologists. I want to be the therapist I never had, I want to see more people in the field who look like me and have a background like me.

Less than 3% of foster youth will go on to graduate from a 4 year college or university. Foster care broadly encompasses government sanctioned removal of children from their home of origin due to the inability of the caregiver to provide adequate care or a safe and nurturing environment. Many of these students encounter a trajectory of homelessness, incarceration, and/or dependence on the social welfare system. As an individual who aged out of the foster care system, witnessing a lack of representation within the clinical field when receiving therapeutic services, inspired me to become a psychologist. Managing the damaging effects of my father’s deportation as my family seemingly disintegrated at the seams was nothing short of traumatic. A revolving door of child protective service professionals documenting it all came short in providing any substantial relief. I am a woman of color who identifies as Mexican-American and am the first in my family to graduate from college and pursue a doctoral degree in clinical psychology. School served as a safe haven, a reliable environment where one can invest energy and attention into academia. To me it was an arena where I could fight and prove myself and still aim to be as prosperous as any other student who did not have to worry about going home. During my undergraduate career I witnessed peers in my cohort of foster youth drop out of school. I saw students of this background including myself face many barriers including but not limited to housing and food insecurity compared to our non foster youth counterparts. Benefits that come from membership in a stable family, often overlooked, and are seemingly invisible. How many students can report that they’ve attended approximately five different elementary schools, four middle schools, and one high school, and made the grades and scores to make it to college? From questions like these came inspiration. Inspiration tasted like dark chocolate. Though initially bitter circumstances brought us all together, once we found a community, rich experiences came about. I was inspired by the resilience demonstrated in many of my foster youth peers, who also shared narratives of unstable parents and intersectional troubles of coming from such a background while being full-time students at UC Berkeley. Through my opportunity with the program of Ronald E. McNair I made it my goal to bring to the table tangible data, quantifying the food insecurities, the frequency of our unstable transitions in care, the struggles with adjustment and sense of belonging we were all facing. I came to recognize the power of food and supplemental income in the wellbeing of at risk adults of socioeconomic or educational disadvantage. Consequently, lack of appropriate support can adversely impact a person’s emotional, physical, and financial wellbeing thereby reinforcing the cycles of stress, these cycles in turn can have generational effects. On a systemic level, we begin to understand how the school to prison pipeline patterns emerge and how social inequality is reinforced. Now in my doctoral program at a new institution with no retention program or support for students who come from the foster youth background, I strive to create a community where I see it is lacking. My hope is to focus my dissertation research around identifying a need and presence of such a community in a state that ranks 4th in the nation for the highest rates of foster care. I seek to make changes in policy/admission processing to identify and provide adequate resources to ensure that future generations of foster students in higher education to come at the University of Indianapolis have the tools to succeed and strive.

Less than 3% of foster youth will go on to graduate from a 4 year college or university. Foster care broadly encompasses government sanctioned removal of children from their home of origin due to the inability of the caregiver to provide adequate care or a safe and nurturing environment. Many of these students encounter a trajectory of homelessness, incarceration, and/or dependence on the social welfare system. As an individual who aged out of the foster care system, witnessing a lack of representation within the clinical field when receiving therapeutic services, inspired me to become a psychologist. Managing the damaging effects of my father’s deportation as my family seemingly disintegrated at the seams was nothing short of traumatic. A revolving door of child protective service professionals documenting it all came short in providing any substantial relief. I am a woman of color who identifies as Mexican-American and am the first in my family to graduate from college and pursue a doctoral degree in clinical psychology. School served as a safe haven, a reliable environment where one can invest energy and attention into academia. To me it was an arena where I could fight and prove myself and still aim to be as prosperous as any other student who did not have to worry about going home. During my undergraduate career I witnessed peers in my cohort of foster youth drop out of college. I saw students of this background including myself face many barriers including but not limited to housing and food insecurity compared to our non foster youth counterparts. Benefits that come from membership in a stable family, often overlooked, and are seemingly invisible. How many students can report that they’ve attended approximately five different elementary schools, four middle schools, and one high school, and made the grades and scores to make it to college? From questions like these came inspiration. Inspiration tasted like dark chocolate. Though initially bitter circumstances brought us all together, once we found a community, rich experiences came about. I was inspired by the resilience demonstrated in many of my foster youth peers, who also shared narratives of unstable parents and intersectional troubles of coming from such a background while being full-time students at UC Berkeley. Through my opportunity with the program of Ronald E. McNair I made it my goal to bring to the table tangible data, quantifying the food insecurities, the frequency of our unstable transitions in care, the struggles with adjustment and sense of belonging we were all facing. I came to recognize the power of food and supplemental income in the wellbeing of at risk adults of socioeconomic or educational disadvantage. Consequently, lack of appropriate support can adversely impact a person’s emotional, physical, and financial wellbeing thereby reinforcing the cycles of stress, these cycles in turn can have generational effects. On a systemic level, we begin to understand how the school to prison pipeline patterns emerge and how social inequality is reinforced. Now in my doctoral program at a new institution with no retention program or support for students who come from the foster youth background, I strive to create a community where I see it is lacking. My hope is to focus my dissertation research around identifying a need and presence of such a community in a state that ranks 4th in the nation for the highest rates of foster care. I seek to make changes in policy/admission processing to identify and provide adequate resources for future generations of foster students in higher education to come at the University of Indianapolis ensuring they have the tools to succeed and strive.