Hi, my name is Topsonise Philippe I was born in Haiti and moved to America when I was around six years old. My grandpa helped bring my mom, my siblings, and me into the United States. While living in Haiti my parents weren't able to finish their education. Because their parents lacked the money to send them to school, so farmed and sold some of what they farmed to make a living. With the help of my grandpa and what money my parents had, me my mom and my little brother were able to come to the United States. But unfortunately, my dad had to stay back with my little sister since there were issues with her papers. My mom was able to work hard and eventually bring my dad and sister into the States. She also has been working hard to help her family in Haiti. She has been trying to give her nieces and nephews a good education so they could live a good life. But unfortunately, most of them took advantage of her and used the money she would send them on other things besides school. Watching how my cousins took advantage of my mom's hard work to provide them with education made me appreciate my mom and my free education. I started to realize that I could've been one of my cousins who didn't have the opportunities that I did. I tried my hardest not to take advantage of my education and to value it, and with this mindset, I eventually applied at Robeson Early College to get a head start at college. I got accepted and plan on graduating with my high school degree and associate's degree. I will end up graduating with 67 credits, which is more than I needed to graduate. Before Covid happened me and my family attended our local Haitian church. The church didn't have most things like other churches because we had just started the church. And one of the things that were messing which we believed was very important was a class for the youth. So my mom, the pastor, I got together and decided to create one. My mom and I ended up teaching the class every Sunday. And did little fun activities that would help the children have a little understanding of the Bible. We even taught some of them how to read and how to speak our native language. But due to the pandemic, we eventually stopped going.

Hi, My name is Topsonise Philippe and as a black Haitian in American, I have noticed how many black people go through many different traumatic experiences, including myself. And we suffer in pain because we were either raised to think that there's nothing wrong with us mentally and we should be grateful to even be alive, or we feel the need to be strong, and not felt judged by our fellow black sisters and brothers. And watching so many people suffer their pain in silence especially black people is the reason I want to go into the field of psychology so I can learn how to better understand what some people go through or have been through. My long goal in life is to try my hardest to get my Psychologist degree so I can open up a psychological clinic. So I will be able to spread awareness about mental issues in the black community and to show them it is okay to not be okay, it's okay to have feelings and to express those feelings, and it's okay to not feel your and it's perfectly fine to seek help!! Because many black people do suffer mentally, it causes us to suffer emotionally and psychically. And because we are suffering, we surround ourselves with others who suffer too. Leading to crime, drugs, deaths, abuse, and no motivation to chase after your dreams and expect better for yourself. But I expect better for us! if the black community as a whole is willing to acknowledge the mental health issues that are there, we can achieve so much!! My vision is for the black community as a whole to accept that we need health and to see that many of us are going to get the help we need. I want to be able to see many more black people in mental health careers. Many more black school counselors, therapists, etc, who want to help better the black community. We as a black community can do many great things!! But some of us are suffering mentally and emotionally and are afraid to get help or can't find the right help. But when we as a whole started spreading awareness about the help that's available. And being the help that someone needs them we can begin healing as a whole.