Personal background, experiences, interests, and goals

Personal Statement for Application to a Graduate Program in Mental Health/Counseling

My decision to pursue graduate education in mental health/counseling is an intensely personal one. My undergraduate education in psychology might lead some to believe that I would naturally be drawn towards further education in mental health, but this is certainly not the case. Rather than flowing organically from my undergraduate experiences, my interest in mental health/counseling is fueled by a deeper emotional need to provide solace for those in most need of it.

In order to help pay for my undergraduate education, I got a job with an adoption agency in those years that handled -- in part -- adoptions of Chinese children by American families. I was put in charge of the Chinese adoption program because I am originally from China; my employers felt this background, especially culturally and linguistically, was invaluable to meet their ends. I found that I was able to help mediate issues that naturally arose between adopted children and their new families in this country. Especially when it came to older children, the importance of acting as a bridge between them and their new families was a crucial aspect of my work.

For instance, during that time I was especially involved with a ten-year-old Chinese girl who had been adopted by an American family. The family's strong desire to adopt this child and care for her was very evident. As a point of fact, the young girl spoke not a single word of English, while the family, as well meaning as they were, had absolutely no background in Chinese. When dealing with a younger adoptee, this is not such a problem However, in this case, the girl was already ten years old -- old enough to have been firmly entrenched in her native language and culture. In addition to finding herself in a new family, she also had to adapt to a new country, a new language, and a new culture. The hurdles she faced were significant. It was one of my most fulfilling tasks in this position to help this young Chinese girl find her way in her new home. I was able to act as a translator between the girl and her family, in the process teaching her enough English to communicate directly with her new family. When she was ready to begin going to school, I was also there to help her adapt to her new environment and employ her natural intelligence to overcome the entirely ordinary stress she felt in her new situation. Any newly adopted girl will face similar stresses; this situation was compounded by the severe language and cultural difference between her and her new surroundings. It was my pleasure and honor to work with her to overcome these obstacles and thrive in her new home.

As rewarding as that experience was, not all of my work at the adoption agency was as satisfying. Most people understand that any adoption process -- especially when it occurs internationally -- is a long and complicated process that must deal with significant layers of bureaucracy. Success is, unfortunately, not necessarily guaranteed. But when adopting families are only a few weeks away from receiving their new children, we all begin to assume that adoptions will go through and we will have helped create many new families. Thus, it was especially devastating for all of us at the agency, not to mention the families involved, when two weeks before a new batch of Chinese children was meant to arrive, the Chinese government decided against letting the children leave the country. In hindsight, the reasons are unimportant; no rational explanation could have assuaged the grief of the families who had expectantly and lovingly prepared their homes for the arrival of their children. The consequences of this bureaucratic decision stymied the creation of new and happy families and destroyed months of work that I had participated in to carefully match prospective families with Chinese children who needed to be adopted.