I am currently in my third and final year of earning my master’s degree in School Counseling at SUNY Brockport, and I intend to complete the bridge program to earn my Mental Health Counseling License as well. I have realized while in my graduate program that it was not just one event that caused me to pursue this career but a combination of experiences, family complexities, my mental health struggles, and an increasing interest in social justice, which all pushed me in this direction. While in middle school, my family began to notice that my younger brother had slowly not been acting like himself. He was very socially withdrawn and was not expressing emotions normal to his personality. Over time, he finally came out as transgender. His school counselor did a great job of making sure he had everything he needed and made sure he knew that she was there. Steve also started seeing a counselor who worked with transgender youth. While I felt relieved and thought that things were going well, I was ignorant of the fact that he was struggling. It had been a year since Steve came out and I remember getting a phone call from my dad telling me that Steve was in the hospital. I asked what happened although I had a terrible feeling I already knew the answer. My dad told me that Steve had tried to take his own life. I instantly felt so many emotions of sadness, anger, worry, and I think even guilt that I had not noticed he was in so much pain. Thankfully his attempt was unsuccessful. Things changed after this, and I realized that I needed to take my own mental health and personal struggles a lot more seriously. My mental health was one that I never held enough importance to while growing up. Anxiety was something that I was quite familiar with and had been diagnosed with in high school. Along with this, I struggled a lot with my body image and experienced some disordered eating habits. It took me a long time to end these harmful eating habits, and much longer to learn to be happy with who I am. While completing my undergraduate degree at Geneseo I began having increased symptoms of depression as well. I felt very useless in the grand scheme of things in this world. It was hard to visualize a greater sense of purpose and to feel like I could make a difference one day. I suppose that this may have been an underlying push to my interest in mental health. If I could be an advocate for someone else, or give support to just one person struggling, would that not be enough of a reason to pursue this career? I wanted to talk about my brother because he inspired me to want to become a counselor. I often think about what would have happened if he didn’t have the support that he had from my family, the school, his friends, and his counselors. I want to be able to give that guidance to people who may not have the resources they need. Even if I could show family members or friends how much their support is needed, it could have a positive impact. I do not think my brother would be here today without all the advocacy he did have, and even with it, it was a challenge. Due to this, I hope to be at least one source of support during someone else’s struggling time because I believe that just one person’s showing they care can make a difference.

I am currently in my third and final year of earning my master’s degree in School Counseling at SUNY Brockport, and I intend to complete the bridge program to earn my Mental Health Counseling License as well. I have realized while in my graduate program that it was not just one event that caused me to pursue this career but a combination of experiences, family complexities, my mental health struggles, and an increasing interest in social justice, which all pushed me in this direction. While in middle school, my family began to notice that my younger brother had slowly not been acting like himself. He was very socially withdrawn and was not expressing emotions normal to his personality. Over time, he finally came out as transgender. His school counselor did a great job of making sure he had everything he needed and made sure he knew that she was there. Steve also started seeing a counselor who worked with transgender youth. While I felt relieved and thought that things were going well, I was ignorant of the fact that he was struggling. It had been a year since Steve came out and I remember getting a phone call from my dad telling me that Steve was in the hospital. I asked what happened although I had a terrible feeling I already knew the answer. My dad told me that Steve had tried to take his own life. I instantly felt so many emotions of sadness, anger, worry, and I think even guilt that I had not noticed he was in so much pain. Thankfully his attempt was unsuccessful. Things changed after this, and I realized that I needed to take my own mental health and personal struggles a lot more seriously. My mental health was one that I never held enough importance to while growing up. Anxiety was something that I was quite familiar with and had been diagnosed with in high school. Along with this, I struggled a lot with my body image and experienced some disordered eating habits. It took me a long time to end these harmful eating habits, and much longer to learn to be happy with who I am. While completing my undergraduate degree at Geneseo I began having increased symptoms of depression as well. I felt very useless in the grand scheme of things in this world. It was hard to visualize a greater sense of purpose and to feel like I could make a difference one day. I suppose that this may have been an underlying push to my interest in mental health. If I could be an advocate for someone else, or give support to just one person struggling, would that not be enough of a reason to pursue this career? I wanted to talk about my brother because he inspired me to want to become a counselor. I often think about what would have happened if he didn’t have the support that he had from my family, the school, his friends, and his counselors. I want to be able to give that guidance to people who may not have the resources they need. Even if I could show family members or friends how much their support is needed, it could have a positive impact. I do not think my brother would be here today without all the advocacy he did have, and even with it, it was a challenge. Due to this, I hope to be at least one source of support during someone else’s struggling time because I believe that just one person’s showing they care can make a difference.

I am currently in my third and final year of earning my master’s degree in School Counseling at SUNY Brockport, and I intend to complete the bridge program to earn my Mental Health Counseling License as well. I have realized while in my graduate program that it was not just one event that caused me to pursue this career but a combination of experiences, family complexities, my mental health struggles, and an increasing interest in social justice, which all pushed me in this direction. While in middle school, my family began to notice that my younger brother had slowly not been acting like himself. He was very socially withdrawn and was not expressing emotions normal to his personality. Over time, he finally came out as transgender. His school counselor did a great job of making sure he had everything he needed and made sure he knew that she was there. Steve also started seeing a counselor who worked with transgender youth. While I felt relieved and thought that things were going well, I was ignorant of the fact that he was struggling. It had been a year since Steve came out and I remember getting a phone call from my dad telling me that Steve was in the hospital. I asked what happened although I had a terrible feeling I already knew the answer. My dad told me that Steve had tried to take his own life. I instantly felt so many emotions of sadness, anger, worry, and I think even guilt that I had not noticed he was in so much pain. Thankfully his attempt was unsuccessful. Things changed after this, and I realized that I needed to take my own mental health and personal struggles a lot more seriously. My mental health was one that I never held enough importance to while growing up. Anxiety was something that I was quite familiar with and had been diagnosed with in high school. Along with this, I struggled a lot with my body image and experienced some disordered eating habits. It took me a long time to end these harmful eating habits, and much longer to learn to be happy with who I am. While completing my undergraduate degree at Geneseo I began having increased symptoms of depression as well. I felt very useless in the grand scheme of things in this world. It was hard to visualize a greater sense of purpose and to feel like I could make a difference one day. I suppose that this may have been an underlying push to my interest in mental health. If I could be an advocate for someone else, or give support to just one person struggling, would that not be enough of a reason to pursue this career? I wanted to talk about my brother because he inspired me to want to become a counselor. I often think about what would have happened if he didn’t have the support that he had from my family, the school, his friends, and his counselors. I want to be able to give that guidance to people who may not have the resources they need. Even if I could show family members or friends how much their support is needed, it could have a positive impact. I do not think my brother would be here today without all the advocacy he did have, and even with it, it was a challenge. Due to this, I hope to be at least one source of support during someone else’s struggling time because I believe that just one person’s showing they care can make a difference.

My mental health was one that I never held enough importance to while growing up. Anxiety was something that I was quite familiar with and had been diagnosed with in high school. Along with this, I struggled a lot with my body image and experienced some disordered eating habits. It took me a long time to end these harmful eating habits, and much longer to learn to be happy with who I am. While completing my undergraduate degree at Geneseo I began having increased symptoms of depression as well. I felt very useless in the grand scheme of things in this world. It was hard to visualize a greater sense of purpose and to feel like I could make a difference one day. I suppose that my own experiences may have been an underlying push to my interest in mental health. I started to put more of an emphasis on my mental health after really reflecting on my own experiences and the ones I was connected to through my friends and families. It became of so much importance to me that I decided to pursue counseling as a career. If I could be an advocate for someone else, or give support to just one person struggling, would that not be enough of a reason to pursue counseling? I am now in my third and final year of earning my master’s degree in School Counseling at SUNY Brockport, and I intend to complete the bridge program to earn my Mental Health Counseling License as well. Through this program, I have learned the importance of maintaining my mental wellness. If I cannot maintain my mental health and learn to reflect on my feelings and emotions honestly, how will I be able to support other individuals through this same process? This is a topic that my program pushes heavily throughout our years of being a student. We are constantly discussing how to maintain our mental health in the face of such a mentally exhausting job, in the chance of exposure to secondary trauma, and when we are already such an empathetic group of people. I have been working very hard on my progression of mental health and have created some skills and habits that I rely on to make sure that I can continue to maintain my wellness while helping others. First and foremost, I have my own counselor that I see regularly because counselors also need counselors! During these sessions, I can work through my anxiety and anything else I may be facing. Along with this, I have a large support system. I am very close with my family and I have friends that I know I can go to if I ever need anything. I make sure to create enough time for myself to enjoy hobbies and activities that bring me peace and make me happy. Some of these include reading for pleasure, watching a good show, spending time with my cat (Millie) and making time for those who I care about. When I first began this program I had a very difficult time with making time for the things I care about. I have realized that it is very important for me to manage my time and if I need to I will schedule self-care into my agenda. I have had to learn to not feel guilty for doing the things I enjoy and that I need to keep my mental health maintained if I want to be successful in other areas of my life. Lastly, I need to be adaptive and remember that life is a learning experience!

I am currently in my third and final year of earning my master’s degree in School Counseling at SUNY Brockport, and I intend to complete the bridge program to earn my Mental Health Counseling License as well. I have realized while in my graduate program that it was not just one event that caused me to pursue this career but a combination of experiences, family complexities, my mental health struggles, and an increasing interest in social justice, which all pushed me in this direction. While in middle school, my family began to notice that my younger brother had slowly not been acting like himself. He was very socially withdrawn and was not expressing the emotions that were normal to his personality. Over time as this continued, he finally came out as transgender. His school counselor did a great job of making sure he had everything he needed and made sure he knew that she was there if he needed to talk. Steve also started seeing a counselor who worked with transgender youth, and he seemed to like her and was moving in a positive direction. While I felt relieved and thought that things were going well, I was ignorant of the fact that he was struggling with so much. It had almost been a year since Steve came out and I remember getting a phone call from my dad telling me that Steve was in the hospital. I asked what happened even though I had a terrible feeling I already knew the answer. My dad told me that Steve had tried to take his own life. I instantly felt so many emotions of sadness, anger, worry, and I think even guilt that I had not noticed he was in so much pain. Thankfully his attempt was unsuccessful. Things changed after this, and I was in a constant state of worry that something was going to happen. I knew he was struggling with his body, and he disclosed that his chest especially was a huge trigger. I would constantly preach messages of self-love and would remind him that he is beautiful the way he is. I was being a complete hypocrite. Here I was telling my brother all these things that I didn’t even believe about myself. This was a turning point for me. I realized that I needed to truly learn to love myself and take the time to reflect on myself. Although it was not that simple, just having this mental realization did a lot for me and I at least knew that I had to start following my advice and take my own mental health and personal struggles a lot more seriously. My mental health was one that I never held enough importance to while growing up. Anxiety was something that I was quite familiar with and had been diagnosed with in high school. Along with this, I struggled a lot with my body image and experienced some disordered eating habits. It took me a long time to end these harmful eating habits, and much longer to learn to be happy with who I am. While completing my undergraduate degree at Geneseo I began having increased symptoms of depression as well. I felt very useless in the grand scheme of things in this world. It was hard to visualize a greater sense of purpose and to feel like I could make a difference one day. I suppose that this may have been an underlying push to my interest in mental health. If I could be an advocate for someone else, or give support to just one person struggling, would that not be enough of a reason to pursue this career? I wanted to talk about my brother because he inspired me to want to become a counselor. I often think about what would have happened if he didn’t have the support that he had from my family, the school, his friends, and his counselors. I think about all the people in his position today who do not have a single ounce of support, all because they are transgender or some other identity. I want to be able to give that guidance to people who may not have the resources they need. Even if I could show family members or friends how much their support is needed in a situation like this, it could have a positive impact. I truly do not think my brother would still be here today without all the advocacy he did have, and even with it, it was a challenge. Due to this, I hope to be at least one source of support during someone else’s struggling time because I believe that just one person’s showing they care can make a difference. I would be lying if I did not say that I am so scared sometimes of this future career path I have chosen. I have not even finished school yet and I can feel the weight of this job and what comes with it. With the current mental health crisis, not enough support for individuals, and how burnt out I am seeing colleagues, it makes me worry sometimes. I have to keep my passion for mental health in the front of my mind at all times. Along with this, I have learned to keep my mental health as healthy as possible. I am seeing a counselor, I encourage friends and family to see counselors, I work to break down the stigma that our society has created surrounding mental health, I keep my life as balanced as possible and above all else I remember the reasons why I chose this career. I think about how many people out there are struggling, how there are not enough helping professions to support them, how just one person advocating can make a difference for just one person, and finally about my brother, and how counselors have changed his life and gave my family the resources they needed to provide the best support possible.

My mental health was one that I never held enough importance to while growing up. Anxiety was something that I was quite familiar with and had been diagnosed with in high school. Along with this, I struggled a lot with my body image and experienced some disordered eating habits. It took me a long time to end these harmful eating habits, and much longer to learn to be happy with who I am. While completing my undergraduate degree at Geneseo I began having increased symptoms of depression as well. I felt very useless in the grand scheme of things in this world. It was hard to visualize a greater sense of purpose and to feel like I could make a difference one day. I suppose that my own experiences may have been an underlying push to my interest in mental health. I started to put more of an emphasis on my mental health after really reflecting on my own experiences and the ones I was connected to through my friends and families. It became of so much importance to me that I decided to pursue counseling as a career. If I could be an advocate for someone else, or give support to just one person struggling, would that not be enough of a reason to pursue counseling? I am now in my third and final year of earning my master’s degree in School Counseling at SUNY Brockport, and I intend to complete the bridge program to earn my Mental Health Counseling License as well. Through this program, I have learned the importance of maintaining my mental wellness. If I cannot maintain my mental health and learn to reflect on my feelings and emotions honestly, how will I be able to support other individuals through this same process? This is a topic that my program pushes heavily throughout our years of being a student. We are constantly discussing how to maintain our mental health in the face of such a mentally exhausting job, in the chance of exposure to secondary trauma, and when we are already such an empathetic group of people. I have been working very hard on my progression of mental health and have created some skills and habits that I rely on to make sure that I can continue to maintain my wellness while helping others. First and foremost, I have my own counselor that I see regularly because counselors also need counselors! During these sessions, I can work through my anxiety and anything else I may be facing. Along with this, I have a large support system. I am very close with my family and I have friends that I know I can go to if I ever need anything. I make sure to create enough time for myself to enjoy hobbies and activities that bring me peace and make me happy. Some of these include reading for pleasure, watching a good show, spending time with my cat (Millie) and making time for those who I care about. When I first began this program I had a very difficult time with making time for the things I care about. I have realized that it is very important for me to manage my time and if I need to I will schedule self-care into my agenda. I have had to learn to not feel guilty for doing the things I enjoy and that I need to keep my mental health maintained if I want to be successful in other areas of my life. Lastly, I need to be adaptive and remember that life is a learning experience!

I always knew I was interested in going into the medical field. That was until my junior year of college at SUNY Geneseo came around and I was battling back and forth between my career goals. At this point in my life, I was a double major in Biology and Psychology, and my plans of becoming a Physician Assistant were slowly being questioned more and more each day. It was due to my continuing growth of love for my psychology classes and internal reflection on my own life and mental health that led me to the path of pursuing a counseling degree. I am now in my third and final year of earning my Master's degree in School Counseling at SUNY Brockport, and I intend to complete the bridge program to earn my Mental Health Counseling License as well. I have realized while in my graduate program that it was not just one event that caused me to pursue this career but a combination of experiences, family complexities, my mental health struggles, and an increasing interest in social justice, which all pushed me in this direction. However, I am going to focus on some of my own personal and familial experiences as a large force in my career choice. While in middle school, my family began to notice that my younger brother had slowly not been acting like himself. He was very socially withdrawn and was not expressing the emotions that were normal to his personality. Over time as this continued, he finally came out as transgender. While my sister and I had a much easier time accepting this, it was more difficult for my parents to process, but they were still supportive and used the correct pronouns(he/him) and name which is Steven. His school counselor did a great job of making sure he had everything he needed and made sure he knew that she was there if he needed to talk. While most of the kids were supportive, he lost some friendships and felt biases that he once did not have to worry about. Steve had started seeing a counselor who worked with transgender youth, and he seemed to like her and was moving in a positive direction. While I felt relieved and thought that things were going well, I was ignorant of the fact that he was struggling with so much still. It had almost been a year since Steve came out and I remember getting a phone call from my dad telling me that Steve was in the hospital. I asked what happened even though I had a terrible feeling I already knew the answer. My dad told me that Steve had tried to take his own life. I instantly felt so many emotions of sadness, anger, worry, and I think even guilt that I had not noticed he was in so much pain. Thankfully his attempt was unsuccessful. Things changed after this though and I was in a constant state of worry that something was going to happen. I knew he was struggling with his body, and he disclosed that his chest especially was a huge trigger. I would constantly preach messages of self-love and would remind him that he is beautiful the way he is. I was being a complete hypocrite. Here I was telling my brother all these things that I didn’t even believe about myself. This was a turning point for me. I realized that I needed to truly learn to love myself, take the time to reflect, and learn to respect myself for the way I was. Although it was not that simple, just having this mental realization did a lot for me and I at least knew that I had to start following my advice and take my own mental health and personal struggles a lot more seriously. My mental health was one that I never held enough importance to while growing up. Anxiety was something that I was quite familiar with and had been diagnosed with in high school. Along with this, I struggled a lot with my body image and experienced some disordered eating habits. It took me a long time to end these harmful eating habits, and much longer to learn to be happy with who I am. While completing my undergraduate degree at Geneseo I began having increased symptoms of depression as well. I felt very useless in the grand scheme of things in this world. It was hard to visualize a greater sense of purpose and to feel like I could make a difference one day. I suppose that this may have been an underlying push to my interest in mental health. If I could be an advocate for someone else, or give support to just one person struggling, would that not be enough of a reason to pursue this career? At the point of graduating college with my undergraduate degree, I already had a strong interest in working with the LGBTQIA+ population in some capacity. While I questioned whether this new goal in counseling was the right path, I knew right off the bat that my goal in advocating for this population would fit in very well, especially for youth. While we are in a current mental health crisis, a 2023 national survey of LGBTQIA+ youth found that 43% of young people in this population have seriously contemplated attempting suicide in the past year, and 56% of young people in this group wanted mental health care but were not able to get it (The Trevor Project, 2021). While suicide in youth is already one of the leading causes of death, youth who identify as LGBTQIA+ have an even higher risk of suicide. With the increased advancement of legislation that affects these students in a school setting, it is scary to think about where these students will find safe spaces if their home is not one of them. The reason I wanted to talk about my brother was because he inspired me to want to become a counselor. I often think about what would have happened if he didn’t have the support that he had from my family, the school, his friends, and his counselors. I think about all the people in his position today who do not have a single ounce of support, all because they are transgender or some other identity. I want to be able to give that guidance to people who may not have the resources they need. Even if I could show family members or friends how much their support is needed in a situation like this, it could have a positive impact. I truly do not think my brother would still be here today without all the advocacy he did have, and even with it, it was a challenge. Due to this, I hope to be at least one source of support during someone else’s struggling time because I believe that just one person’s showing they care can make a difference. I currently am working in a high school during my internship and already can see how vulnerable of a population our youth are. I see firsthand the effects of intersectionality whether it involves race, income levels of a family, special education, sexuality, living environment, etc.. One thing that is always the same in each of the students that I am working with right now is that they just need support and to be seen. A student can't give their best effort academically when they are struggling with their mental health, or are not having their basic needs met. There must be faculty and counselors who put the needs of the students first, and just get to know them and build a connection. I believe that I am achieving this right now at my school placement while also working on fundamental skills to prepare students for the future. Whether it is anxiety coping skills, organization, social skills, conflict resolution, or getting support for students struggling with more complex mental health issues; I feel inspired to continue on this career path. I would be lying if I did not say that I am so scared sometimes of this future career path I have chosen. I have not even finished school yet and I can feel the weight of this job and what comes with it. With the current mental health crisis, not enough support for individuals, and how burnt out I am seeing colleagues, it makes me worry sometimes. I have to keep my passion for mental health in the front of my mind at all times. Along with this, I have learned to keep my mental health as healthy as possible. I am seeing a counselor, I encourage friends and family to see counselors, I work to break down the stigma that our society has created surrounding mental health, I keep my life as balanced as possible and above all else I remember the reasons why I chose this career. I think about how many people out there are struggling, how there are not enough helping professions to support them, how just one person advocating can make a difference for just one person, and finally about my brother, and how counselors have changed his life and gave my family the resources they needed to provide the best support possible.