McLean 1

Jazzmon McLean

Professor Jizi

UWRT 1104

15 October 2017

Future Authoring Essay

It has been ten years since I was a freshmen in college, I am now 29 years old with my

own private practice. At 24 years old I graduated with a masters degree in counseling. I can

recall taking my first Psychology course as a freshman in high school. Immediately I found that I

connected easily with others who enjoyed psychology, so it was not surprising that I made many

connections with other Psychology students in college. Finding individuals with similar

aspirations, really motivated me to share my vision and take the steps to make my dreams come

true. Through organizations like Psychology Coalition, I met a couple of life long friends that

provided the connections needed in order to start my own practice.

After three years of putting everything together, I now have my own building, team/staff,

and everything I need to make Bright Futures, my mental health group home for teenagers, a

successful practice. We take in young adults from the ages of 13-19, and work with them on how

to cope with their conditions. Everyone within our care has come from different backgrounds,

genders, and cultures so it is very important that they are able to identify with someone on our

staff. I believe that representation matters, and theres nothing worse than thinking youre the

only one going through specific problems. Another goal of ours is to find ways to break the bad

stigma that is attached to mental disorders. We have worked with many communities to illustrate

how mental health is just as important as physical health, and we have also created many

workshops to educate parents on how to respond/react to their childs disorder(s) and also how to
 McLean 2

spot warning signs. I feel very passionate about changing our society because mental health

really is not taken seriously in some cultures. For example, African Americans are less likely to

ever receive treatment for mental illnesses, black males often tend to struggle the most due to not

feeling comfortable enough to acknowledge or talk about the problem. If more cultures were

educated on mental health, I have no doubt we could change many lives for the better. We also

participate in volunteer opportunities that are not specifically related mental illness. There is

always time put aside to tutor, and inspire children of all different ages. I even got my husband to

be a part of an organization called Boys to Men, where he acts as a brother figure to teenage boys

going down the wrong path.

I have always enjoyed helping people. Throughout school my friends would often come

to me when they wanted to talk about their problems. I am always delighted when people feel

comfortable talking to me. Whenever I am engaging in single/group therapy sessions the well-

being of my patient(s) is all I focus on. My career does not feel like a job, it feels like something

I was born to be apart of. My character strength of kindness and generosity really drives my

success. After years of internships and volunteer work, I can still see a bright future for myself

working with mental health.

As a Christian woman I value faith. It is very important to me that I acknowledge the

impact that God has had on my life. Everyone struggles with their identity/purpose when theyre

discovering themselves, but I isolated myself to the point where I dealt with all of my issues

alone. My parents did not know that anything was wrong with my behavior. I struggled

internally for a long time, but I now realize that sometimes God puts us through things in order

to paint out a bigger picture in the future. Though I may not go to church every Sunday, I try to

make sure I display my gratitude for everything God has done for me. He has blessed me in so
 McLean 3

many ways, I will always feel a mixture of excitement, joy and love when I think about how far I

have came. I started enjoying my life at 17 years old, now that I am 29, my happiness only grows

stronger and my character strength of gratitude bring positive energy all throughout my life.

The relationships within my family are very important to me. I grew up living within

walking distance of my grandmother, and aunts. My family has always been supportive of my

decisions and lifestyle. I call my parents at least once a week to update them on things going on

in my life. Now that I live 3 hours away from home, I make it a habit to visit whenever I can and

always make the best of our time together. My mother and I love to go shopping together. Now

that I am financially stable we are working on redecorating my childhood home. My father and I

love eating out together. We always try a new place in Charlotte to eat whenever he comes to

visit. The other day we tried Tijuana Flats, the food was pretty good, but I enjoyed testing my hot

sauce tolerance with my family the most. Being able to create positive memories in any situation

is very admirable to me. My best friend, Jada who is basically a part of my family comes and

visits a lot as well. I love taking girl time and having fun with the girl who knows me best. We

have been best friends since 7th grade! We often joke that we have no choice but to stay best

friends considering all the information we know about each other.

For everyone else in my family I try to always schedule events/new places for us to go to.

Last month we all went down to the boardwalk and enjoyed the shopping and scenery. Even

though I see my family pretty often I am always very excited to spend time with them. My

younger sister even stayed with us for a month over the summer. I really enjoyed bonding with

her. I value seeing others grow and improve their lives. Im happy my family and I have a mutual

support system when it comes to our relationships.

 McLean 4

Saving the best for last, my relationship with my husband Marcus is extremely special to

me. I met him a couple of months after my life changed for the better. He is someone that I have

prayed to enter my life for years. I met him when I was 18 years old. He was my first real

relationship, and we dated for 6 months before he left for California to play football. It really

broke my heart to see him go, everything about him was and continues to be perfect to me. He

has a strong relationship with God, hes determined and focused regarding his career, and does

not allow outside influences to change his character.

We agreed to continue our relationship through long distance but we both were faced

with many obstacles. I personally struggled with how to adjust to not seeing him and having to

limit our conversation. It was very hard for me considering that I barely knew how to be in a

relationship in general and I struggled with communication. Luckily, his patience and our shared

character trait of honesty, authenticity and genuineness brought us through our low moments. In

many ways this contributed to my personal value of inner harmony, because being able to talk

about any and everything allowed me to feel at peace with our circumstance. Today, we are

living our lives as newlyweds and find something new to love about each other everyday. We

recently moved into our new home in Charlotte a year ago, and we are actively thinking about

extending our family. His positive relationship with my family means a lot to me. We all support

each other and encourage each other to be happy and live out our dreams.

Overall, my success in my career, relationships, etc. has directly come from taking care

of my well-being. I take it upon myself daily to check in with my emotions and deal with

problems that I might be pushing aside. The value that I put on inner harmony and growth lead

me to believe that there is always room for improvement. I am completely satisfied with my life,

but things can always turn out better. I am currently working on new assignments and events that
 McLean 5

can benefit my private practice, Bright Futures. And I always make sure to communicate with

my husband and family about everything, in order to deal with negative emotions before they

even take place. My motto is life is too short to settle with unhappiness. I strive to look back on

my life and feel nothing but positive emotions.