I was born to two Haitian parents that struggle to adapt to American culture. As a Haitian American, I’ve seen a lot of Caribbean families neglect to address any of the issues they faced in their childhood. My family came to this country as teenagers and dealt with countless horrors, from child trafficking to physical abuse, and they refuse to address the trauma. These traumas later impacted the relationship between myself and my family members. I struggled growing up in a dysfunctional environment and stressed myself with academic achievements to become something I never really wanted. I was depressed, dealing with anxiety, and labeled as disruptive, all things that would normally be addressed if mental health was more normalized in society. I struggled after high school, not knowing that the traumas of my past were going to heavily influence the direction of my future. I ended up working with the Department of Children and Families, with no real direction forward. I’ve spoken to families who have been listed in the Florida Safety Family Network for generations, who remain neglected because their trauma was never addressed. Consistently, Licensed Mental Health Counselors and Licensed Mental Health Social Workers were the only ones that would call in and express that their trauma was being taken care of instead of being dealt with. They were the only ones to care about how each family member was interacting with each other. They were the only ones affecting the nature of these families. An LMHC will call regardless of the information being previously reported and they’ll continue to call to update any additional information. They’re one of the few mandatory reporters that would like to be contacted by Child Protective Investigators or Adult Protective Investigators about any updates with a family. I realized that this is where I can become the change that I was searching for. My goal is to impact the lives of families, hoping to break the cycle. I don’t want to pass them along without trying to deal with the trauma that both adults and children face in their day-to-day lives. I want to be the change that impacts how my own family deals with things. I want to be the reason why they address their issues. Mental health is an expanding field, but there are concerns due to the lack of representation in mental health professions. Only 4% of therapists are of African American descent. African Americans have struggled with clashing ideals of choosing religion and seeking professional therapy. Even when they do seek therapy, there are major disconnects between the community and therapists. Black people are more likely to be misdiagnosed based on the DSM's criterion. Most therapeutic interventions are Eurocentric, designed for white westernized culture. Interventions are harder to incorporate when techniques aren’t adapted to the client’s cultural norms. It’s harder to form a therapeutic relationship with a client if you ignore the collectivist roots of their culture. Despite educational programs that influence becoming a multicultural-competent therapist, many tend to ignore the differences and force their views on clients. There needs to be more representation to address the different cultural norms that therapy tends to ignore.