Why MHC?

I began realizing the importance of mental health in high school. I was a part of my high school’s honors program as well as several high-commitment extracurricular activities, and the majority of my time was spent doing homework or other things for school. I hardly had time for myself and it certainly showed in my energy and mental health. I never really had time to give myself a break, and any ‘limits’ I reached I simply pushed back because I didn’t have a choice. I was growing depressed, anxious, and exhausted. 

Mental health wasn’t really talked about in my high school. There was no emphasis on the care of the mind, only care for the physical body. My mother had spoken about it repeatedly at home, but I never had that same support in a place of learning. It wasn’t until my junior year AP Psychology class did I hear someone talking about the importance of taking breaks and appreciating your progress, rather than comparing yourself to intense goals you had set. That person was my teacher, and she is also the reason why I decided to major in psychology. She was always checking in on us, making sure we were doing okay and being kind to ourselves. When I was visibly burning out in the latter half of the school year, she would ask me every day how I was and if I was alright. That continued into my senior year when I wasn’t even in her class anymore, and I couldn’t be more grateful for it.

Her passion for mental health ignited something in me, making me conscious of just how great the deficit was in my high school. I started passing her advice onto my peers in addition to my own supportive comments. That passion is something I still have with myself today. Now that I’m in college, I’m much more aware of my limitations. I know now that it’s okay to take breaks, that it’s okay if your productivity and progress look different every day. Coming into BU, I wanted to do my best to help ensure that deficit that was in my high school did not continue. MHC has been a great opportunity for that, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for the organization and ending the stigma on a worldwide level.