My decision to return to college to further my education, though riddled with thoughts of anxiety and fear, has been motivated by my twelve years’ worth of professional experience. Education never came easy to me growing up in the inner city as a first-generation Puerto Rican. I was the first in my family to attend college. I was able to persevere and graduate with my bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Criminology. I later was able to obtain my master’s degree in the Administration of Juvenile Justice. A summary of my professional experience includes working for Child Protective Services for three and a half years investigating reports of child abuse and neglect. After being exposed to vicarious trauma and experiencing a high rate of burnout, I decided to leave social services. I subsequently obtained employment in the Juvenile Justice System supervising juvenile offenders in the community and in residential placement facilities. I service juveniles ages twelve until they age out of our system at the age of twenty-one years old. I have experience maintaining community safety and protection, ensuring the juvenile offender makes reparation to his victim and the community, and assisting offenders in developing the necessary skills to rehabilitate them. The goal is for juvenile offenders to develop their competencies to reduce their likelihood of reoffending. Though I worked in two different fields of work, both fields overlap in populations serviced. Some of the responsivity factors that overlap are mental health concerns and exposure to traumatic situations. I have worked with several youths over the last several years who have experienced traumatic moments or have unresolved mental health issues. As a result, my interest has been piqued. I began to brainstorm different ways I could be better equipped to work with this population of youths. I have increased the number of trainings geared towards trauma, sexual offenders, and mental health. These trainings did not do enough to satiate my need to know more. I decided to further my education by learning a skillset that can be applied to my current line of work. I decided to pursue a doctorate in Community Care and Counseling, specializing in Traumatology. As unfortunate as it sounds, when supervision is punitive and focuses on community protection, youth are not willing to accept constructive criticism or work towards developing competencies. In turn, they are at a higher risk of reoffending. I hope to develop and master a more empathetic, therapeutic approach that will aid in allowing youth to feel heard and more likely to consider cognitive behavioral restructuring. If given the opportunity, my goal is to eventually move into a profession where my sole focus can be placed on mental health, not juvenile justice. I aspire to have an impact on my community by being a well-rounded mental health professional who has experience in social work and juvenile justice. I also aspire to make an impact by providing bilingual services to a predominantly Spanish-speaking community.

My name is Nilmarie Mayol. I attended Millersville University of Pennsylvania where I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Criminology with a minor in Latino Studies. I completed an internship in Child Protective Services and went on to obtain employment investigating reports of child abuse and neglect for three and a half years. After being exposed to vicarious trauma and experiencing a high rate of burnout, I decided to leave social services. I subsequently obtained employment in the Juvenile Justice System supervising juvenile offenders in the community and in residential placement facilities. I service juveniles ages twelve until they age out of our system at the age of twenty-one years old. In my current profession, I have experience maintaining community safety and protection, ensuring the juvenile offender makes reparation to his victim and the community, and assisting offenders in developing the necessary skills to rehabilitate them. The goal is for juvenile offenders to develop their competencies to reduce their likelihood of reoffending. Though I worked in two different fields of work, both fields overlap in populations serviced. Some of the responsivity factors that overlap are mental health concerns and exposure to traumatic situations. In addition to working with youth and families suffering from mental health crises, I have also been personally touched by mental health in my immediate and extended family. My mother is a survivor of trauma and continues to battle with depression. My brother, who has had many instances of suicidal ideation and has created plans to take his own life, has been hospitalized on several occasions for his safety. My extended family includes loved ones who suffer from intellectual disabilities, schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety. As a working professional who assesses youth for crises and trauma, I have observed the stigma that comes with addressing mental health concerns. I have observed the long waiting lists that prevent youth in crises from being serviced in a reasonable amount of time. There are very few female programs as well as very little to no programs to aid in addressing addiction treatment. Knowing there is a crisis in the mental health profession where access to qualified mental health professionals for youth and families in need frightens and intimidates me, not just for my family but for my community. Lack of mental health services can have a detrimental effect on our community in various ways. There is the potential for untreated mental health to increase addiction rates, strain family relationships, and increase criminal activity in the community. A lack of mental health professionals can increase the percentage of individuals who are having suicidal ideation and overall rates of successful suicides. After reviewing my close connection to mental health, my professional connection to mental health, and feeling the need to fill an empty void, I ultimately decided it would be best to expand my knowledge and skillset to better service my community. I hope to aid in bridging the gap, as a Spanish-speaking therapist, by increasing access to mental health services for youth and families. I will be pursuing a doctorate in education in Community Counseling and Care, specializing in Traumatology. Investing in this doctoral program allows me to develop a special skillset I can apply to make a lasting impact on the community I service. In my current profession, it will increase my ability to work with troubled youth with a more empathetic mindset.

Greetings! My name is Nilmarie Mayol. I am the first in my family to attend college and continue to further my education. I obtained my high school diploma in 2007. I went on to attend Millersville University of Pennsylvania where I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Criminology with a minor in Latino Studies. I completed an internship in Child Protective Services and went on to obtain employment investigating reports of child abuse and neglect for three and a half years. After being exposed to vicarious trauma and experiencing a high rate of burnout, I made the decision to leave social services. I obtained employment in the Juvenile Justice System supervising juvenile offenders in the community and in residential placement facilities. I service juveniles ages twelve until they age out of our system at the age of twenty-one years old. In my current profession, I have experience maintaining community safety and protection, ensuring the juvenile offender makes reparation to his victim and the community, and assisting offenders in developing the necessary skills to rehabilitate them. The goal is for juvenile offenders to develop their competencies to reduce their likelihood to reoffending. In my process of rehabilitating juvenile offenders, I maintain contact with community providers, such as mental health professionals, family therapists, trauma groups, etc. to build a support system for juvenile offenders to remain successful in the community. As I have shifted positions in my office, I now process incoming juvenile offenders and gather the necessary background information to determine how their criminal charges will be disposed of. Though I worked in two different fields of work, both fields overlap in populations serviced. Some of the responsivity factors that overlap are mental health concerns and exposure to traumatic situations. I currently administer the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument-Version 2 (MAYSI-2) Screening Tool and Child Trauma Screening, assessing all youth who are entering the Juvenile Justice System. This allows me to determine if I will need to refer them to mental health services or refer them to trauma-informed services. Combined with community supervision and risk assessments, the MAYSI-2 and Child Trauma Screening aid in identifying responsivity factors that can affect criminogenic needs. When these needs and responsivity factors are identified, it aids professionals in this field to make the necessary referrals to address mental health concerns and manage moments of crises. In addition to working with youth and families suffering from mental health crises, I have also been personally touched by mental health in my immediate and extended family. My mother is a survivor of trauma and continues to battle with depression. My brother, who has had many instances of suicidal ideation and has created plans to take his own life, has been hospitalized on several occasions for his own safety. My extended family includes loved ones who suffer from intellectual disabilities, schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety. As a working professional who assesses youth for crises and trauma, I have observed the stigma that comes with addressing mental health concerns. I have observed the long waiting lists that prevent youth in crises from being serviced in a reasonable amount of time. Not to mention, there is an extensive waiting list for youth who require a higher level of care in the form of a residential treatment facility and are unable to receive treatment. There are very few female programs as well as very little to no programs to aid in addressing addiction treatment. I have observed parents who have been unable to manage or navigate the mental health system to ensure their children’s mental health needs are met. Knowing there is a crisis in the mental health profession where access to qualified mental health professionals for youth and families in need frightens and intimidates me. Lack of mental health services can have a detrimental effect on our community in various ways. Untreated mental health can lead to an increase in drug or alcohol use. Those who may not have access to a qualified professional who is able to provide a formal diagnosis or prescription for the necessary psychotropic medication can resort to drug use to self-medicate their mental health system. The use of drugs, such as marijuana, can lead to the use and abuse of more serious drugs, such as narcotics. This can have a negative effect or worsen mental health symptoms. It can also impair decision-making skills creating additional barriers towards seeking mental health services. Unfortunately, more and more youth are relying on substance abuse to self-medicate some of the mental health symptoms they are experiencing. With fewer programs available to treat addiction in youth, it has created a large gap in services, especially for females. Untreated mental health conditions can strain family relationships. Some family dynamics that are affected are communication, trust, and overall shame and frustration. There can also be some financial strain and conflict due to lack of treatment, addiction, and theft. This has the potential to increase the homeless population in the community. Unfortunately, women and youth who suffer from untreated mental health, and homelessness are more vulnerable to targeting for human trafficking. Untreated mental health conditions can cause an increase in criminal activity within the community and poor relations between the community and law enforcement. Law enforcement departments as a whole are poorly trained in dealing with and de-escalating individuals suffering from a mental health crisis. This may result in the criminalizing of mental health by individuals with untreated mental health being processed through the criminal justice system instead of receiving the proper mental health services they require. In addition to affecting our community's safety and increasing the number of individuals who enter the criminal justice system, untreated mental health and a lack of mental health professionals can increase the percentage of individuals who are having suicidal ideation and overall rates of successful suicides. As I previously mentioned, I am a juvenile justice professional who works with at-risk youth to deter them from continuing to commit criminal offenses. In the risk-needs-responsivity model, treating a responsivity factor, such as mental health, can alleviate areas of high risk and/or needs to promote rehabilitation of the offender and lower the rates of recidivism. A youth who struggles to control his anger, when provided with access to mental health services can help target any underlying mental health concerns that trigger his anger. This will aid in making the youth more amenable to treatment services such as cognitive behavioral therapy or anger management classes. Once the youth buy into the anger management treatment, he or she will develop the necessary skills to resolve his moments of anger in a less aggressive manner which will decrease the likelihood that the youth will commit a new offense. Another example that I have observed is that of a young woman who is a survivor of human trafficking. She will have a lot of traumas to unpack through trauma-informed mental health services before we can tackle other areas of concern, such as decision-making skills and antisocial thinking. I have encountered youth and families in moments. These moments include dealing with grief, loss, conflict, trauma, and moments of mental health crises. Although I try my best to help de-escalate and process these situations with as much empathy and understanding, I sometimes am at a loss for words on how to manage these moments. At times, it feels like a disservice to the population I service if I am unable to adequately assist them through some of these situations. In reflecting on some of the youth I have encountered in the course of my profession, I asked myself: how can I, as a juvenile justice professional, help aid in bridging the need for mental health services? After reviewing my close connection to mental health, my professional connection to mental health, and feeling the need to fill an empty void, I ultimately decided it would be best to expand my knowledge and skillset to better service my community. My hope is to aid in bridging the gap, as a Spanish-speaking therapist, by increasing access to mental health services for youth and families. I will be pursuing a doctorate in education in Community Counseling and Care, specializing in Traumatology. Investing in this doctoral program allows me to develop a special skillset I can apply to make a lasting impact on the community I service. In my current profession, it will increase my ability to work with troubled youth with a more empathetic mindset. I have the potential to aid in developing and implementing a crisis response team meant to service law enforcement professionals within my department after experiencing trauma in their personal lives and while conducting fieldwork. Furthermore, it allows me the opportunity to explore a career in mental health and trauma services outside of the juvenile justice system. While this degree opens up various avenues and allows me to service different populations in need, my overall hope is to make a lasting impact in the mental health community. This could include the lives of law enforcement professionals, at-risk youth, and families. Enhancing quality of life by improving mental health would provide me with a fulfilling career. If I can break through a handful of clients out of a large number, I would consider my career to be a success.

I am a first-generation Puerto Rican whose family migrated to the United States in pursuit of adequate medical care and resources for my older brother who was born with Spina Bifida. I was raised in the inner city. I come from a two-income household, but somehow my family spent winters without heat or ate rice and fried eggs for dinner. My parents have always instilled in me the need to attend school and create a profession for myself although I only ever obtained average grades throughout high school. I am the first to attend college in my family. I mistakenly chose my school because of how diverse the campus appeared when I visited. Soon after starting my first semester, I was the only Latina in my dormitory hallway and my classes. Aside from feeling lonelier than ever, I struggled academically. My parents were willing to welcome me home with open arms, however, I decided to persevere. I obtained a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Criminology, with a minor in Latino Studies. I am a juvenile justice professional who works with at-risk youth who have committed criminal offenses and those diverted from the juvenile justice system. My experience includes providing community supervision to juveniles who are supervised by the Juvenile Court to ensure the protection of the community, the reparation to the victims and community by the juvenile offender, and the competency development of the offender. My experience also includes the processing of criminal charges and collecting background information from juvenile offenders and their families, including assessing for crisis, mental health concerns, and trauma. I am a mother to an autistic child, who is now beginning to navigate the educational setting. My profession has allotted me the opportunity to further my education by obtaining my master’s degree in the Administration of Juvenile Justice. To say this was difficult is an understatement. As a new mother to a child who early on displayed developmental delays, I found myself balancing work, school, and a multitude of in-home services for my child. With the support of my family, colleagues, and friends, I was able to persevere during times when I felt I could not continue. Being the first in my family to pursue and continue to further my education has not come easy to me coming from an inner-city education. In addition, life has thrown curve balls in my direction that I continue to overcome to this day. I have had to be resilient and persevere in the face of adversity in a white-male-dominated society. In doing so, I have been allowed to work in the community I grew up in and work with youth who are going down paths I could have easily gone down. Observing youth who have experienced moments of trauma and crisis at such high rates has prompted me to fill a void in my professional experience and inspired me to further my education. I am pursuing a doctorate of education in Community Care and Counseling, specializing in Traumatology. If awarded this scholarship, I would be allotted the opportunity to further my education without the financial burden of additional student loans. Essentially, this is an investment into the development of a new set of skills that I may utilize, in combination with my professional experiences, to aid in closing the gap to mental health services in a low-income, predominately Spanish-speaking community. This scholarship would not only improve my life, but I would be able to apply the knowledge to improve the lives of others.

As a Latina who grew up in the inner-city, little did I know what trajectory my professional path would take. I knew I had to further my education because my parents expected me to, but I did not know what I wanted to do with my life. Thankfully, I fell into the world of Sociology and Criminology during my undergraduate studies. I explored a profession in Social Services investigating child abuse and neglect, but soon found myself burned out by the vicarious trauma I observed daily. I spent endless nights responding to immediate reports to assure the safety of a group that could not advocate for themselves in the community I called home. It took a toll on me, and I decided to explore other avenues where I could continue to give back to my community in one aspect or another. From there I stumbled my way into the world of juvenile justice, a system that was just beginning to explore the risk-needs dynamic to service their population. Through my current profession, I was able to further my education by obtaining my master’s degree in the Administration of Juvenile Justice. My career in juvenile justice has offered me the opportunity to work with juveniles and their families on a one-on-one basis to ensure the safety of the community, offer reparations to the victim and community, and develop the competencies of our juvenile offenders. I began as a field officer working with youth between the ages of twelve years old up until they age out of our system at the age of twenty-one. I now process incoming cases by meeting with juveniles and their families to gather background information and determine how their cases will be disposed of. In my twelve years of professional growth and development, I have observed juveniles and families who have many different struggles, but the most prevalent has been mental health, specifically trauma and crisis. This has led me to pursue a doctoral degree in Community Counseling and Care, with a special emphasis on Traumatology at Liberty University Online. When working in the inner-city with at-risk youth, it impacts you in many ways. I have successfully closed many cases, but I have also lost some youth to violence in the community. I have observed youth and their families in moments of crisis, grief, and victims of trauma such as sexual abuse and human trafficking. It has piqued my interest in expanding the tools I currently have to better service the community I once lived in and continue to work in. Gratefully, my employer has allowed me to obtain my master’s degree at no cost to me. To continue my professional development, I have decided to fund it through student loans and scholarships. Any scholarship, no matter what amount, would aid me in my trek to further my education. As a Latina, who could have taken the wrong path in her youth, I would love to be able to assist in bridging the various gaps in services that exist to service this population of individuals. If I can utilize my doctoral degree to help a handful of youth over the lifetime of my professional career, it will be worth the sacrifices, personal and financial, to obtain my doctoral degree.