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As many other kids, I wanted to be so many different occupations growing up (e.g. fireman, police officer, lawyer, exc.). Long story short, I talked to respectable amount of my friend's growing up about their problems, and my dad said that I could get paid for it. When I looked up how much I could potentially get paid or it, I knew that I found my calling and wanted to help people for a living.

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During Highschool, I bounced around between wanting to become a psychologist or a psychiatrist. I finally landed on wanting to become a psychologist, because I didn't want to go to medical school. I am still happy with my choice!

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I graduated from Blackhawk University with my Associates of Arts degree. Blackhawk had an East Campus that was in Galva, IL, and they had a West Campus that was in Moline, IL. The East Campus in Galva, IL was more agriculture oriented, so I took as many classes that I could there because it was closer. When the east campus couldn't offer any more psychology/ social science-oriented classes, then I switched to taking classes at the West Campus, which was an hour drive one way. Regardless of the countless miles I put on my car, it was still an awesome experience!

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My first ever real job while I went to Bradley University to obtain my bachelor's degree in psychology was a Barista at Starbucks. I chose to work there because Starbucks had an extremely flexible schedule, and the majority of the workers there were college students, therefore my boss was very understanding when I had to take a little time off work to focus on schoolwork. Before Starbucks, I solely did manual labor and landscaping jobs that paid under the table, so the change of scenery was a bit daunting at first. However, I quickly acclimated myself to it, and I really loved working there.

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I achieved my bachelor's degree @ Bradley University as a psychology major. I absolutely adored my time there (aside from the lack of sleep, reliance on coffee, and worrying about my grades constantly), and I was extremely glad to hear that they offered the clinical mental health counseling degree for their master's program.

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I currently work with the adult clinical population at the Human Service Center in Peoria, IL as a community support specialist (CSS). a CSS is essentially a caseworker/case manager that is predominately in the community that provides outpatient mental health services. These services include assisting clients with finding housing, assistance with making sure they're medication compliant, transporting them to their appointments, etc.. When I got this job, I was nervous that attempting to get my master's degree and working full time would be virtually impossible, but my boss is absolutely wonderful and assured me that I could do it. I've been working here for about 7 months, and I have a pretty good balance between life/work/school. Not only is this job perfect for the degree that I'm perusing (clinical mental health counselor), but I wouldn't like to work anywhere else while I get my masters. I love my job, I'm planning on working here the entirety of my master's degree, and I might be able to even move up in the company once I obtain my degree.