PHF Scholarship Recipients’ Lived Experience Inspires Career

Palm Health Foundation Scholarship Recipients’ Lived Behavioral Health Experience Inspires Career Trajectory

Aug 25, 2021

Students encourage others to consider mental health career
as need for professionals skyrockets.

Mental health trauma can strike anyone at any time. In fact, 70 percent of adults in the U.S. have experienced some type of traumatic event at least once in their lifetimes, defined as a deeply distressing or disturbing event that overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope. Trauma can often have long-term effects, but for two Palm Health Foundation scholarship recipients, personal and family trauma experiences were the defining moments that put them on a career path to helping others with a deep sense of empathy. As skyrocketing mental health needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic add to mental health practitioner shortages, these students are encouraging others with lived experiences to enter the field.

A Career Where She Belongs

For Amanda Kopacz, a recipient of the foundation’s Frances Fisher Scholarship Fund, and as someone with a family history of mental illness (including two of her own children), seeking a master’s in social work with a focus on trauma at Florida Atlantic University is her calling—but it took deep reflection. “The more I learn about trauma and resilience, the more I recognize the relationship between the two and the greater my desire to be of service,” she said. “I was originally resistant because my family had faced so many challenges, including suicide and addiction, and I have my own conditions,” she said. “But once I stepped into openness about my own struggles and my family’s, I realized how many people I respected also had mental health conditions or had been through trauma. It was eye opening to see how much the conversation is needed and how many more people we need working in this profession.”

Since making the commitment to a behavioral health career, Amanda has gone all in, seeking a variety of ways to make an impact, and sharing her own personal story with those she reaches. She has become a certified trauma-informed yoga instructor, providing classes in addiction treatment centers and for organizations serving at-risk youth. She has also represented the American Foundation for Suicide

Prevention on legislative issues and spoken at press conferences and events coordinated by Congresswoman Lois Frankel. And as a peer mentor for the National Alliance on Mental Illness Palm Beach County, she has the unique role of being a family member of those impacted by mental health conditions, as well as having her own experiences with anxiety and depression. “I knew working in mental health with families like ours who had experienced trauma and persistent mental health struggles was where I belonged,” she said.

Conquering the “Big Bad Wolf” in Vulnerable Communities
De-Shaunah Dixon, a Palm Health Foundation Nursing Advancement Fund scholarship recipient working toward her degree as a psychiatric nurse (BSN to DNP PMHNP) at FAU, has experienced mental health trauma as well. Her brother battled with depression before getting in a fatal motorcycle accident in 2014, and she sees how trauma is pervasive in the low-income minority community she grew up in, where discussing mental health is seen as taboo. It is precisely these vulnerable communities where she has committed her service, knowing that more education and resources are needed. “Certain cultures look down on mental health challenges,” she said. “Looking back at my brother and mother and their battles with mental health challenges, it was very hard to accept and even have the conversation at the time. As a society, we look at psychological disorders as the big, bad wolf. I don’t want people to be afraid.”

De-Shaunah also hopes to dispel the fear that some health professionals feel about pursuing a career in behavioral health. For the last two years she has worked at a nonprofit Baker Act facility in Fort Lauderdale, providing emergency mental health services to people impaired because of their illness, an experience that has helped her more deeply understand the connection between chemical and physiological conditions. “Many nurses are afraid because of stigma, not experiences,” she said. “Our field needs more effort, funding and resources. It’s not as well researched as the medical field and can seem scary to take on the unknown, but you can use your passion to become a pioneer in a field that has so much potential.”

“I think we have this idea that there are ‘helpers,’ and then there are those who need help, as if we are all one or the other. In reality, we can be both. I hope someday we normalize that those of us impacted by mental health struggles are valuable assets in mental health recovery.”

We Can All Be Helpers
Both Amanda and De-Shaunah are grateful for the scholarships that will help them realize their very personal career goals, inspire others to enter the field and bring more understanding to it. “I think we have this idea that there are ‘helpers,’ and then there are those who need help, as if we are all one or the other,” said Amanda. “In reality, we can be both. I hope someday we normalize that those of us impacted by mental health struggles are valuable assets in mental health recovery.” De-Shaunah sees her scholarship as enabling her to become an asset to her community as well. “This scholarship has fueled my passion to further my education in the field and make connections in my community,” she said. “I know that my community needs me to advocate for mental health awareness in vulnerable populations. The root of my passion resides in appreciating the life we are blessed with and being there to support, cherish and bring light to the lives of others.”

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