Mental health was never a big thing in my Dominican households, my parents fell into the basic stereotype of “not believing in it”. With raising three teen girls during a worldwide pandemic, my parents were always dealing with very heavy emotions, they blamed us for feeling down and acting in a different way that was considered to be normal. It was a toxic household, to be in at the time, with the constant yelling, arguing, and tears. My sisters and I had no way to stand up for ourselves and explain the dangers of bad mental health. Ironically, my mother, had undergone a case of depression after her second pregnancy, and refused to accept it. She was able to get rid of it, so she questioned, why couldn’t everyone else do the same? That was until her history started to slowly come back due to the death of her mother. She began to change their way of thinking and encouraged us to speak on how we were actually feeling and even enroll us in therapy if we felt as though we needed it. Since I was little, I learned that it is important to be able to support yourself and the idea of independence. Now that I am older, I also learned that the support of your loved ones is equally as important. The ideology of mental health has progressed significantly within my family. Unfortunately, there are parents who haven’t come to the same realization. There are multiple kids out there who’s family cause their mental issues instead of helping it. Everyone should be able to be heard and have their feelings validated while also being surrounded by a family that will truly support them, and I want to be the one that can make it happen. I want to be able to be a spokesperson up for those kids that can’t speak up for themselves in situations similar or worse to the one me and my sisters once went through. I have always felt as though I needed too spend my time helping those in need and have found comfort in it during my high school years. Towards the end of my junior year, I began to spend time with my guidance counselor, my freshman year english teacher, and another english teacher. I was able to experience how they treat those students that come to them for support and was in awe of the amount of trust these students put into them. The selflessness and positivity that these three women constantly portray have encouraged me to keep on working up to my goals, which is why I plan on majoring in Social Work. There is a lot of unawareness in this world, educating those who may not be aware and speaking up for those who can’t is just the first step towards creating more ways to efficiently help those children who silently struggle.