Mental Health Personal Statement

There are few certainties of what one will encounter during life. A common joke names two: death and

I have chosen to enter the field of Mental Health Counseling at this particular time in my life because I would like to learn the skills needed to help people with their life and mental health issues. While attending the University of Saint Joseph during my undergraduate years I took various courses that have led me to making my decision. The courses I took focused on business, biology, social work, and psychology. After graduation I decided to take a year off and gain work experience in customer service and health care. I wanted to experience working with the people in my community. I was hired as a pharmacy technician at a Walgreens in Vernon. Working as a pharmacy technician has been a very rewarding experience for me and I learned a lot about people and their unique needs. I also learned about patient care and how to be pacient and understanding under stressful situations.

The doctor of behavioral health program will most definitely fit into both my personal and professional experiences. I am a great team player and I am always willing to learn and work as a team in a group setting. I have over 9 years of counseling experience. I am the counselor and founder of Family First Counseling Group, LLC. Our mission is to reconnect broken relationships and rebuild lives. We believe in encouraging individuals to face their responsibilities and forward to accomplish goals in the lives and relationships. As a counselor who have counseled a variety of clients with mental health issues such as substance abuse, depression, anxiety issues.

My career in mental health started in September 2013, from where I have had a variety of experience. I have worked in acute adult mental health units, early intervention psychosis team, community mental health teams, home treatment teams, older adults with dementia and eating disorders services. My main overall role has been to ensure appropriate use of medicines, to maximum benefit to patients whilst minimising patient harm. I have also ensured clinicians

I have worked incredibly hard to obtain skills from various organisations to better understand mental health. I decided I needed to acquire additional work experience to give my application some weight. I am tenacious by nature and therefore despite being somewhat academically inferior to my rivals, I make up for in passion, determination and professionalism. I can assure you my grade does not define my ability to work with vulnerable people, families and colleagues and I would really like the opportunity to demonstrate this at interview. I am keen to explore the depths of applying psychology to health and the behaviour-change processes involved with working with young people in particular.

My field placement was ( I am no loner at this site) at the Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in the Psychiatric Medical Care Unit, an acute short stay unit. All patients are admitted after careful evaluation by a psychiatrist and/or a psychiatric nurse practitioner at the crisis center. The patients are first stabilized in the crisis center then transferred to the unit for further treatment and evaluation. Once on the unit a multidisciplinary team comprised of psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse(s), social worker(s), recreational therapist, peer specialists, mental health technicians and other medical professionals (as needed ) work closely with each other and the patient to develop a treatment plan and discharge planning.

Mental health counseling gives me a positive outlook regarding my life. I feel that Walden University will certainly prepare me to be an effective mental health counselor. The mental health-counseling program at Walden will prepare to care for individuals with various mental issues. I am positive that I will learn how to aid my clients with mental health problems through various programs and services. Being that its imperative to display excellent listening skills, memorandum, and deliver positive replies with kindness.

I am writing to express my interest in the Master’s of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at Walden University. I have completed my application with all of the necessary information included.

My passion and determination to undertake study within the mental health sector dwells from the insight I have been privileged to gain in my current role as a link care coordinator, working with people who suffer from a range of ailments within the mental health spectrum; from learning disabilities, Alzheimer’s, Dementia, OCD, Autism to name but a few.

My experience at the Florida State Mental Hospital as a psychology major has most definitely been an unforgettable one. The mere eight visits I was able to make has rewarded me with so much knowledge about what it takes to work alongside the mentally ill, mental health workers, and hospital staff altogether. Even though I have been constantly preparing my brain for my future career as a clinical psychologist by reading and researching in my classes as well as during my free time, I don’t believe any of these readings could have directly shown me the reality of it all.

My experience in mental health clinical was very different from any other clinical I had before. In a mental health clinical setting, I am not only treating client’s mental illnesses, I am also treating their medical problems such as COPD, diabetes, chronic renal failure, etc. Therefore, it is important to prepare for the unexpected events. In this mental health clinical, I learned that the importance of checking on my clients and making sure that they are doing fine by performing a quick head-to toes assessment at the beginning of my shift. I had also learned that client’s mental health illness had a huge impact on their current medical illness.

Pursing a career as a medical doctor is an opportunity for me to mentor youth in underserved populations. As a child, I was raised in the low income, urban community of Roxbury, MA. Although not as notorious today, the neighborhood had garnered negative attention for its high crime rates. My mother emigrated from Haiti and raised me as a single parent. Due to our financial circumstance, Roxbury became our permanent residence. I have always felt there was something lacking in Roxbury in comparison to other towns I visited. My teenage years were largely spent in the suburban town of Stoneham where I attended high school. There was a literal difference in air quality and a psychology contrast in future prospects. While native students of

I have always been thrilled by what goes around in people’s minds, but it was at the age of fifteen that I was first attracted to the field of psychology and particularly to clinical psychology. It was mainly because I read my favorite book When Nietzsche Wept by Irvin Yalom. This novel had a personal impact on me, as someone I know was dealing with depression, migraines, insecurities and suicidal tendencies same as happens so in the book’s characters.

"I hear voices" my brother shouted as he hysterically clutched his ears. He showed signs of anger and confusion as we did not understand what was happening. My family and I were in shock because here was my brother a retired army veteran going through a psychotic episode. After retirement, he was supposed to embark on a new chapter in his life but that was halted by his diagnosis. As a family, our lack of understanding led us to believe that my brother might have abused drugs or was possessed. I was able to convince my parents to seek medical help because of my studies in psychology as an undergraduate student. During the period of my brother’s recovery I realized the importance of mental health which motivated me to pursue a career in psychiatry.

My interest for public health stems from the need to aid numerous people in disease and injury prevention, health protection, and strategies for health promotion. I hope to earn a Master of Public Health with a focus in the area of health care management as well as hospital administration in relation to public health policy development and education. I aspire to develop enhanced intervention policies that can provide the population with direct access to primary health care due to public health preparedness education and strategic planning.