To Write Love On Her Arms: Personal Statement

When I was in middle school I had a really rough time. I was emotionally distraught and generally confused about myself and where I fit in the world. My parents had divorced when I was eleven, and my Dad who had been diagnosed with PTSD was in and out of the picture. My mother who had tried to reach me every way she could felt helpless until our family Doctor gave her the name of a child therapist. This woman was amazing! She listened to me without judgement and offered solutions to help soothe my bottled emotions. She helped me to realize it was okay to be just who I was. She validated my feelings and she changed my life. That was the moment I knew I wanted to be a counselor.

What has attracted you to the helping professions? Who in your life has influenced your decision to consider this role for yourself? I have always had a love for helping others. I first heard about social work through a friend. I began doing lots of research on this helping profession to get a better understanding. I found that Social Workers are responsible for helping individuals, families, and groups of people cope with problems and improve their lives. I also enjoy helping others in a time a need so social work matched some of my qualities perfectly.

At the same time my mental illnesses were beginning to materialize. Once I realized something was wrong and had been officially diagnosed, I began to develop and intense interest in the human mind. Last semester I took a concurrent general psychology class. By the end of the first week, I knew that there was no other profession for me. After intense research and planning, I finally made the decision to major in psychiatry. This will allow me to work in a career field that will not only hold my interest, but will provide me with an atmosphere that will satisfy my need to help others.

Ironically, I was not always interested in the psychology and counseling field. My first two years of undergraduate school I was a Mathematics major until I took Advanced Calculus and decided that Math was not for me. Then I began taking more and more Psychology courses as electives and realized that I had found the information interesting. After speaking with my father, I made the decision to pursue a career in this field while also following in his footsteps.

I first knew that I wanted to be a counselor as a child. No one in particular inspired me to want to be a counselor, but I do feel that I chose marriage and family therapy due to the issues that my family has or had and never thought to seek counsel. There are many families out there that have issues but do not believe in therapy. My own parents do not see the usefulness of as they say, going to sit on someone’s couch and pay them to listen to your problems. As a child I can recall sometimes thinking if I just had someone to talk to that would understand. That is why I chose to become a marriage and family therapist, to help all the people that want help.

I want to take Psychology because I would love to help those who are struggling with mental health issues. I know how it feels to not have anyone to talk to who has been in that same situation. Also going back to school would show that I am trying to make changes and not go with the flow of life. When you have young children who look up to you, everything in your life changes and it makes you want to make those changes and grow up already. I would be the first person in my family who is going back to college and knowing that makes me want to try even harder. Sitting around every day doing nothing really gets to you. I realized since I have extra time on my hands I can use that time to get an education for myself. Getting a degree is really important to me. I have a certificate from Arizona College of Allied Health for Medical Assisting. I have tried to look for a job here where I live as a Medical Assistant but no luck in getting a job. I believe that getting a degree would really help with my career goals in life and would make me feel more secure about

This was probably because I craved the analyzing that my psychologist did and had to start doing it myself. I began constantly analyzing myself and others around me; everyone from my teachers to my parents to my friends to the man sitting alone in a coffee shop. My intense almost unconscious analyzing lead me to also become interested in other forms of therapy, and eventually in psychology itself. I took a psychology class in high school with a phenomenal teacher who understood my strange interests and excitement in the field, and he pushed me to take a college level psychology course to see if I would enjoy minoring in the discipline. I am glad I did, as I’ve learned a lot more about psychology and different things I could do with the

It was not until I was in my senior year of college and went through some challenging events in my life that I realized I wanted to be a counselor. The life changing experience I went through was when my beloved childhood friend, Michael, died of Leukemia. He responded very well to a bone marrow transplant, but while recovering he contracted an infection and passed away within a few days. It was inconceivable that someone we loved was taken so early on in life and my family was distraught with grief. During that difficult time, I was taking Abnormal Psychology and learning about death, grieving, and coping. I was very engaged in this topic as I was searching for a way to cope with this major loss and to help my sister work through her grief. My sister and I had many heartfelt discussions on this subject which greatly helped ease our sorrow. Many people feel hopelessness and are struggling everyday with issues both big and small. My life experiences have taught me that not only do I have a strong desire to help others with their struggles; I am capable of making a difference in their lives. This is when I wanted to aspire to become a Mental Health Counselor.

What motivated me the most to enter a helping profession was high school. All through high school I saw children being bullied, stressed out trying to be someone they were not, and pushed down for being slightly different. Counseling is a profession that allows people to listen

During my time in university, I was very involved in extra-curricular activities that focused on supporting my fellow students. I was an active member and volunteer of the Acadia Mental Health society and I developed a student-run personal support line (PSL). Working with these organizations, I got to see first-hand the impact we can all have in helping to change the way people think about mental health by increasing mental health awareness, providing

When I was in the military I had three great life events that lead me onto the road of psychology and eventually to this road of applying to the Masters program with Adler University. The first event was that of a friend who was homosexual, the young man had a hard time and life was harder for him due to others harassing him, this young man took his life. Knowing what I know it saddens me that I did not see the signs that he had in his mind a plan to do this. This pushed me into a depression, which is the second event that lead me to the desire to be a mental health counselor.

Psychology has always had a direct impact on my life for many years for example, I myself have had counselling sessions for anxiety. Experiencing this has given me a desire to work with people in understanding their behaviour and how their minds work to be able to empower individuals to lead better lives. My own personal experience with anxiety has also intrigued me into thinking why I think the way I do and what can be put into action to improve my circumstances.

I am primarily interested in psychology because it gives me the opportunity to help people first hand. Although helping people seems like a vague mission, it is what drives me. I have been active in volunteer work since middle school, because it was the only way that I could make an impact. I still participate in volunteer work, although I am more focused on furthering my future career because I feel that I will be able to help people better as a psychologist. Early on in my life, my mission in life was incredibly vague. I just knew that I wanted to help people the best I could. I have managed to refine my mission down, and I am now focused more on helping people with brain damages live a full life, instead of helping

I would enjoy counseling class so much, that it was easy for me. I always got good grades, and to the amazement of other, counseling/mental health was the subject in which I had the highest grades.

At this stage of my life Social Work is what I am most interested in practicing because it provides opportunities for me to work in many different settings with people whose problems, issues and needs are diverse. My second choice would then be guidance counseling which is the process of helping individuals discover and develop their educational, vocational, and psychological potentialities and thereby achieve an optimal level of personal happiness and social usefulness.