My unique contribution to making mental health care more affordable and accessible would be combining mental health education, creativity, and community support. I understand that mental health support should not be treated as a luxury that only people with financial resources can afford. Through my education at City College of New York, where I study Black Studies and Psychology, I have developed a deeper understanding of how mental health can be affected by systemic inequality, poverty, trauma, and the environment in which people live. I want to use that knowledge to help create solutions that meet people where they are instead of expecting everyone to navigate traditional systems on their own.I would also like to create spaces where people can receive resources without feeling judged or ashamed. My vision includes free or low-cost creative wellness programs, community events, art supplies, support groups facilitated by qualified professionals, and connections to mental health providers who understand the cultural and economic realities of the communities they serve. I believe technology and social media can also help make educational resources and information about available services easier to find. Ultimately, I want to help build a model where mental health support is part of the community rather than something people only seek when they reach a crisis point. My goal is not to replace professional mental health care, but to help remove some of the barriers that prevent people from finding it.

My experiences have taught me that my circumstances do not have to determine my future. I have experienced homelessness, financial hardship, and the challenges of growing up with both of my parents struggling with drug addiction. There were many moments when the odds felt stacked against me, and it would have been easy to believe that I could not create a different life for myself. Instead, I decided that I would work to break the cycle and create a better future for myself and my family. One of my greatest accomplishments is becoming the first person in my family to pursue and complete a college education. I am currently continuing my education at City College of New York with a 3.6 GPA while also being a mother of two children. Balancing motherhood, school, financial responsibilities, and everything else that comes with life has not always been easy. There have been moments when I have questioned whether I could keep going, but I reminded myself why I started. I want my children to see that their circumstances do not have to limit their dreams. I want them to see their mother continue working toward her goals even when life becomes difficult. My education in Black Studies and Psychology has also helped me understand the systemic challenges that can affect families and communities, particularly Black and Brown communities. Rather than allowing my experiences to define me negatively, I use them to understand others with greater empathy. I know what it feels like to need support, and that understanding motivates me to provide support whenever I can. I give back through mutual aid, donating food and clothing, and volunteering my skills to organizations that directly serve people in need. Through TheresJoyInEverything, I use my creativity and graphic design skills to create projects centered around art, representation, wellness, and community. I also donate my design services to South Side Free Inc., a nonprofit free store that provides essential items such as food, clothing, and toiletries. I have helped the organization by creating its logo and social media materials. I want my experiences to have a purpose beyond my own success. My long-term goal is to create a free store and community garden where people can access necessities, food, art supplies, and a supportive community without judgment. I want to use my education, creativity, and personal experiences to help others recognize their own potential. Breaking a family cycle is not easy, but I am proud that I chose to keep moving forward. I am pursuing my degree while raising my children because I believe they deserve to see what is possible when you refuse to give up on yourself. I am not only working toward a better future for myself; I am working to create a better foundation for my family and to show others that difficult beginnings do not have to determine how our stories end.

Community has always meant more to me than simply the people who live around me. I see community as something that extends beyond my front door and even beyond my city. Every day, I try to support people through mutual aid campaigns, direct donations, and by using my skills to help organizations that serve communities in need. One organization I proudly support is South Side Free Inc., a nonprofit free store located on the South Side of Chicago. The organization provides people with essential goods, including clothing, food, and toiletries, without requiring them to purchase these necessities. I donate my graphic design services to help the organization communicate its mission. I have created the organization’s logo and social media templates to help them reach more people and make their resources more accessible to the community. For me, this is an important way of giving back because I am not only donating money or materials; I am also using my creativity and professional skills to support an organization doing meaningful work. I also believe in helping the people in my immediate neighborhood. I live in an area where I see many low-income individuals, people experiencing homelessness, and people struggling with addiction. When I am able, I donate food and clothing directly to people in my community. I believe there is value in giving directly to people who need support. While larger organizations can provide important services, I have also seen how donated items can sometimes be resold rather than reaching people who need them immediately. Mutual aid has taught me that community members can respond to one another’s needs directly, with dignity and compassion. My education has also changed the way I understand community service. As a Black Studies major with a minor in Psychology, I have gained a deeper perspective on the systemic challenges that affect Black and Brown communities. My education has helped me understand that many of the struggles people face are connected to larger social, economic, and historical systems. At the same time, learning about these issues has strengthened my belief that change can begin at the community level. After I finish school, I want to continue donating my time, skills, and resources to organizations that directly support people. My long-term dream is to operate a free store of my own on a piece of land where I can also create a community garden. I envision a space where people can access clothing, food, art supplies, toiletries, and other necessities while also having a place to grow food, connect with one another, and feel supported. To me, community service is not about receiving recognition. It is about recognizing a need and asking myself what I can do with the resources and skills I have. Whether I am designing a logo for a nonprofit, donating food to someone in my neighborhood, supporting a mutual aid campaign, or working toward creating a free store of my own, I want my work to make people feel that they are not alone. My goal is to continue building a life centered around creativity, education, and service—and to use all three to create opportunities for others.

My name is Joykym but many call me Joy. I'm a college freshman and Kingsborough community college and I am finally able to attend now that I am stable enough and providing for myself. I'm a domestic violence survivor and well as a vilomah(mother who has lost a child). I have had the opportunity to tell my story of loss, pain and redemption to help other people who also struggle with mental health. My dream future will also reflect many of these aspects . I consider myself a reflection in a mirror in a room full of mirrors. As we look at ourselves we are also able to see one another in each other. This is important to me because it keeps us grounded as humans and free to express without the fear of judgment. In the past year, I published a coloring book titled “ My Black is Beautiful, A Coloring Book Dedicated to Mental Health”. Black and brown communities often do not trust mental health providers or medications so I decided to create an alternative form of healing. Art therapy through coloring and community gatherings that share poetry, painting, and creative thought that encourage healing. Other than financial resources I would consider the only other thing standing in my way to be the lack of peer support. Ive already been combatting this obstacle by changing what I allow on my social media pages and by networking with as many new people as I possibly can. My biggest support doesnot come from my family or friends. They come from strangers who genuinely connect with the ideas that I believe in and people who can empathize with my experiences.

I make superfoods a major part of my everyday life because I care about my long-term health. African Americans are more prone to diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, and even cancer. These facts and my knowledge and experience in my family history have also made me more conscious about the things that I consume. I love Superfoods because they are dense in nutrients, calories, and energy and often provide me with a lot of options and ways to eat them. Some of my favorite superfoods are Walnuts— I incorporate them in my fruit smoothies as well as my oatmeal in the morning. Oatmeal is cool but it is even better with a nice crunch from some nuts. Almonds would be my absolute favorite nut of all but I could easily enjoy a mixed nut combo on my oatmeal as well. I love the taste of fresh tomatoes with or without avocado. Tomatoes are great for sandwiches, stews, and bagels in my opinion. Tomatoes are also great because they can absorb and cut the salt flavor profile in some meals such as a BLT, or a bagel with bacon, cream cheese, and tomatoes. As long as it is ripe and firm, it is for me. Another big combination I enjoy is Blueberry and Ginger. I use these flavor combinations in my smoothies primarily but I also enjoy blueberry and ginger-flavored water. Berries are great because they have antioxidants that protect our cells and that's very important to me. My grandmother has had a pacemaker for over 15 years now and she is 92. My aunt is in her 50’s and she has had heart pains for at least 5-7 years. My mother had open-heart surgery in her 40’s. My daughter was 2 days old when she passed away from congenital heart defects, her heart did not form correctly and her case was considered an anomaly to be studied. Ginger is an important team player in my life because my body swells easily from heat, physical activity, and sometimes just standing too long or sitting too long. I like to create Asian-inspired meals such as Korean Beef and yummy ginger stir fry with lots of vegetables. I also use fresh ginger with tumeric and honey for my teas so mornings. Watermelon I consider a meal and a drink because I can eat and entire watermelon and feel alert and refreshed. I also like to blend it up fresh and have watermelon Juice with some mint leaves or make watermelon salad . Another Superfood staple in my houe happens to be beets. Im not crazy about the golden ones but do enjoy the red ones. For smoothies, I prep 1-2 beets at a time to freeze them. This way if im craving a smoothie with beets Its always within my reach and ready with the rest of my frozen berries and fruits. Superfoods have helped me balance my energy, my hormones , as well as my temperment. I always feel more energized on the days I consume them over eating fast or processed foods. They givme confidence and make me feel more secure with the way my health will be going into the future. Superfoods have helped with my acne as well as provided me with real sugars instead of artifical ones . When i feel it neccesary to fast and cleanse superfoods make sure I have all the energy that i need to be succesful.

The greatest influence in my life happens to be my daughter Love. Love passed away three days after I gave birth due to a congenital heart defect. The experience alone was life-changing and eye-opening. She taught me to have patience and faith. Love taught me to be strong. Love taught me that she was not at the end of my life and that great things were waiting for me. It was a painfully new and unfair beginning, to say the least. If not for her death, I would not be the person I am today. It has made me transparent in my healing, and art has been the vessel transforming my pain and heartache into such a beautiful and ever-growing movement. A movement of passion and joy. A movement of transparency and freedom. To not be judged is a beautiful experience and there is so much freedom in just that experience. I have had the pleasure of using my skills before attending school to create coloring books for children and adults alike. I've had the opportunity to speak on my journey, and what I did realize along the way is that everyone needs a bit of healing and guidance and sometimes we are stronger fighting the pain as a community. I plan to use my artistic abilities to create physical and virtual safe spaces for people who want to heal. A coloring book made by a healing community would be nice. So would an art gallery space for the healed and healing, to talk about their journey and help elevate others. My artistic gift differs from a lot of artists because I am not creating and advocating to show skill or for personal gain. It differs because I want to influence healing without criticism and with a more holistic and community-based approach.

The positive impact my art promotes is healing through different mediums of art. The mission has always been to cultivate honesty through artist expression by creating transparent events/gatherings and artwork that helps to shed light on the struggles we face in mental health. These struggles that we face as individuals and as members of broken communities are the stories that need to be acknowledged to help others not feel alone. The belief that art therapy can help us become better citizens in terms of empathy and understanding is motivating and a necessary key to a better world. When I turned 18, I began living on my own, it was difficult, stressful, and caused a lot of depression internally. I knew I wasn’t the only one dealing with these mental obstacles. As an adult dealing with depression, PTSD from domestic violence and the loss of a child, I have been compelled as a human being to help myself and others as much as possible. Yes-- therapy and medication are helpful tools but not necessary when there are so many other ways to heal. Art therapy is the medium I have chosen to help people and it has indeed helped people for the past two years that i have been on this journey. will always be helpful but it is even more helpful to become self-sufficient in ways to prevent spiraling into personal darkness. I currently assist and encourage people to heal through my creation of coloring books and painting. My goal has always been to encourage others to create in whatever way possible. I do not create standards for expression and no one is ever creating and expressing incorrectly. This helps them express the reoccurring and traumatic feelings they are facing positively. I plan to continue to create coloring books dedicated to mental health. I find pride in my books because they are created for both children and adults alike making it a bit easier for parents to possibly heal with their children while at the very same time attempting to break generational curses and obstacles.