Almost 50 percent of adults in America develop some sort of mental illness, and suicide is in the top five leading causes of death in all age groups ranging from 15 to 54. Growing into a young woman in a family plagued by mental illness has never been considered easy in my eyes, however it has influenced my young mind to grow up faster; observing and learning how the everyday challenges affect the human psyche. I have always known that I wanted to help people, but who doesn't? I want to help people - be people. By that I mean, I feel the best way to help a person is to engage and encourage their humanity. Both my mother and my older sister have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which makes it very hard to grow up as a young lady when the two strong female roles in your life have constant internal battles over passivity and aggression. Even my more extended family has had issues with impulse control, anxiety disorders, and even obsessive compulsive disorder. However, when growing up as I did, with a family like mine, you learn responsibility. These lessons ranged from taking care of my younger brothers when my mother could not, to fully serving as a placeholder where she could not be. I’ve seen some of the challenges a single mother faces before the age of 15 and I am grateful for …show more content…
I had to give up parts of my childhood, but instead I learned lessons that will enrich my life to new levels. Along with learning who I am, I also began to pick up on how to treat people with respect, use my curiosity in ways that positively help someone to further improve as a functioning person, listen and convey my level of concern to a person, as well as fully respect boundaries. All of these lessons I have learned helped to push me into the field of my choice, and therefore have been a backbone to why I choose to pursue a career in