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My whole life, I was a dual citizen. I frequently moved between Canada, my father's birthplace, and the USA, my mother's birthplace. It wasn't until my junior year of high school that my family firmly decided to settle in Washington State, primarily to pursue better options for post-secondary education.

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As part of the senior year project at Juanita High School, I decided to volunteer with Teen Link, an anonymous teen suicide hotline, where I was taught to formally build rapport and listening skills while I talked to clients going through extreme life difficulties.

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In 2014, I graduated from Juanita High School, and set my goals towards entering university, with interests in psychology.

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Later that year, I enrolled at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. It was the first time I found myself truly independent, and I went looking for opportunities not only to prove myself, but to also expand my knowledge and critical thinking skills.

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To be honest, I wasn't the best student for the first 2 years of my post-secondary education. I got by, but I was more interested in making friends than studying. However, I became determined, and was able to improve my performance so that I was accepted into the Psychology Major in 2016. At the time, I was interested in research, rather than counseling.

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For the last part of my time at WWU, I took a job to help support myself, and to do good. I found myself working as a in-home caregiver for adults with physical and intellectual disabilities. I worked with many different clients, and found a strength in myself I didn't know I had. Additionally, a need was born in me to help people, and would drive every occupation-related decision I would make in the future.

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At long last, I graduated from Western Washington University, the same day as my younger sister (pictured). I finished my BS in Psychology with a 3.2 GPA, and didn't have many concrete plans beyond eventually attending a graduate program. First, however, I wanted to see the world.

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In July 2019, I became a real adult. I decided to travel alone for the summer, visiting the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Italy, Greece, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. I was forced to figure things out for myself, and I found the trial by fire to be extremely important to my development. I am especially glad I traveled, because I happened to meet my future wife, Tina, while traveling through Cambodia.

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I had caught the travel bug. Unfortunately, a different bug, in the form of the COVID-19 Virus, would make an appearance before I could travel again. I had planned to travel with Tina, but we were forced to go long-distance until the world became more stable. I couldn't wait that long.

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So I left again. In July of 2020, there were less than 10 countries in the world that would accept travelers from the USA, including Serbia, where Tina is from. I decided to leave everything behind; I quit my job, sold all my possessions, and traveled to Eastern Europe for an undetermined amount of time. It was the best decision of my life. In the 18 months I lived in Serbia, Albania, Macedonia, and Bulgaria, I made lifelong friends, found a street dog named Sid we would later adopt and import to the USA, and became engaged to Tina. We began the timeline to get her visa to the USA, with the intention of moving there.

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Finally, in early 2022, we were approved for the visa and returned to my family in Seattle, WA. Tina and I were married on 02.02.2022.

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Now that we were married, Tina and I had a primary goal of obtaining her American citizenship. We decided to move to a place neither of us had seen, so we moved to Albuquerque, NM, and lived there for three years. In that time I worked, first as a salesperson for solar systems, than as an Assistant Manager for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, than finally as a Front End Manager for a local painting company. These experiences, while not technically in the field of psychology, encouraged my fascination with people and improved my communication skills.

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Finally, after three years of living, I had an epiphany. Tina and I spent much of our free time camping, and one night by the fire, I came to the realization that what I wanted to do was help people. I still loved psychology, and I loved talking with people, and the knowledge I had retained from my Bachelor's made me a great candidate for a counseling program. With Tina's support, I began to research and apply to different graduate programs.

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Began Counseling Program at Bradley University

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After much research, I decided that the program for me was at Bradley University. I loved its focus on neuroscience, and the flexibility of an online degree would allow me to work on the coursework from anywhere. After originally planning to begin the program in Fall of 2025, I deferred and started the program in May 2025. I now am chasing my dreams with everything I have, and I am so excited to begin helping people in ways I still cannot imagine.