Psychiatric Nursing Practitioner: certified advanced practice nurses who administer the mental health needs of individuals, families, groups or communities. They provide comprehensive mental health care to patients suffering from behavioral problems and mental health disorders, using both medical and therapeutic interventions in treatments. This is my future career. Bipolar Disorder: Also known as manic depression, this is a mental illness that brings severe high and low moods and changes in sleep, energy, thinking, and behavior. Grandma, aged 63: She grew up in Chicago, it’s violence being the only home she knew. Drugs. Money. Hostility. Still, she was a tough woman who could hold her own, learning how to use her own problems to her advantage. One of these problems was bipolar disorder. Knowing that her son, my father, could potentially have this condition, she moved from the dangers of Chicago into the safety of Kansas City. She moved knowing that all problems in life were not avoided and that there were still potentially dangers to face, but now her eldest son didn’t have to fight to find a path in life that did not lead to an earlier than anticipated death. Still associated with gangs and drugs in Kansas City, my father told me the story of my grandmother taking him with her into local bars happier than ever, glowing with positivity. She would leave my father sitting at a table with toys and other activities to occupy him as time continued to pass. She then would go to the men and women of which her business was involved, but slowly her demeanor and facial expressions turned dark even as everyone else continued to laugh and have a good time. Soon after, someone said something that she disapproved of causing her anger to reach its peak, resulting in blood and violence. Afterwards, she approached my father with a smiling face telling them it was time to go. Charles, aged 40: Living with my dad gave me a first-hand experience of his mood swings. He would switch from angry, sad, happy, annoyed, to depressed within a matter of minutes. He only had his grandpa and mother to look up to, like most Black children, he always ended up in trouble. Whether it was because of his mindset, tone, or fights; all of these were emotionally based, which makes it safe to say mood swings were the catalyst. My father did not grow up with the best of friends. Most being associated with gangs and drugs. Meaning, being in a gang with an uncontrollable mental condition can only lead to disaster. There were many occasions where my father went home to my grandmother bloody and bruised due to his mental state. Skye, aged 17: Moving hospital to hospital seemed like an inevitable cycle that could never be escaped. Hospitals were never foreign; more of a second home. I wasn’t always that close with my family. We would sometimes have encounters that would create this warm and fuzzy feeling inside, but that would soon be killed by the instantaneous switch of emotions. The bond I built with my family wasn’t based on regular family conversation, rather, us knowing this condition is genetically passed down. Which made it easier for us to understand one another. The last step in furthering my family’s bond is for me to become a psychiatric nurse. This career would help me learn more about it for myself, my future children, and others who suffer from it. I would be able to psychologically uproot the cause of this disorder and learn the various ways of how to deal with it.