Mindfull

As a minority college student, I really only feel comfortable talking from my own experiences about dealing with therapy. I have struggled with seeking professional help in regards to my mental health. I feel that there is the general stigma of needing to see a therapist for anyone and I knew before I finally accepted that I needed to get professional help. As a woman of color, I don’t feel that it personally added a layer of hardship over whether or not I should seek therapy. But I do know as a mixed Mexican and Palestinian American,  from just looking within my immediate family that discussing mental health and trying to solve those issues has never been dealt with, and that makes it seem more intimidating. When you’re nervous or scared about trying something brand new, you tend to look around to find success stories so you can pull out the evidence that it is worth doing to soothe yourself. But I didn’t have that, so I did feel a sense of loneliness and questioned why I specifically couldn’t handle myself as, seemingly, everyone around me could. I do feel that even if I had more examples in the media of minorities discussing seeking therapy I probably wouldn’t have waited as long as I did to admit that I needed to see a therapist.