An by Ty’Keria

An by Ty’Keria - May 2023 Scholarship Essay

I want to be a psychiatric nurse practitioner in the future. Growing up, I didn’t know much about mental illness because it wasn’t a topic people discussed, but the pandemic changed that. Every time I logged on to TikTok, there was a video of a person talking about how they fell into depression or developed social anxiety disorders throughout quarantine. I found myself wanting to know more about mental illnesses and their effects, so I started to research different types of mental health disorders and began to look for more videos. I found it interesting, but an experience, scary but eye-opening, I had with a cousin is what really pushed me to want to become a psychiatric nurse.
Before my cousin Mia was diagnosed with schizophrenia, she would always tell me about the flashing red light, the spy cameras, the voices, and the people “breaking” into her house. At first, I was confused and concerned. I wanted her to go to inform the police, but she always refused, which confused me even more. It even got to a point where she started blaming me for things that were happening to her causing us to grow apart, but when Mia told me she had gone to a psychiatrist and gotten diagnosed with schizophrenia, everything that occurred began to make sense. Being a psychiatric nurse practitioner will allow me to help people like Mia get the treatment and support that they need. It will let me help them learn how to deal with their mental illnesses and hopefully make their lives a little easier.