I am a 16 year old girl that has struggled with mental health problems since I was about 12 years old.  For awhile I never spoke up about it to anybody because I feared I would be judged for it or would possibly tell the wrong person and they’d go around gossiping to others. Around the age of 14, I opened up to my mother about it hoping for good support and love and hopefully some help.  I instead was yelled at just because of the way I was feeling and thoughts I was getting.  I did feel ashamed of the struggles I was going through. My mental status had gotten worse, and I started struggling with deep depression the more I stayed quiet about my struggles. It got severely bad, and I began scaring myself with my own thoughts and feelings, so after years of hiding how I was struggling I decided it was time to speak to a counselor about my problems. She made me feel the most comfortable I had ever felt and helped me feel more relieved than anything. We made a game plan on how I can protect myself from anything dangerous that may possibly happen because of how I had been feeling and thinking. I got my own personal copy of the packet we had filled out to help protect me, and to this day I read it over at least 3 nights a week to remind myself everything will be okay, that I can make it far, and that I have people who care for me and would do anything for me by my side through anything I struggle with.