It was the accumulation of several events. I had a difficult time in middle school, and not only was I unaware of how to obtain help, but the school's administrators were as well. Later on, I wanted to study psychology in order to better understand what happened to me, as well as to educate others. What made me decide to pursue therapy as a career, however, was a number of events with friends and fellow high school students. I was part of a peer support group, where I was able to speak with teens one-on-one who had been referred by the school for various reasons (drug possession, self-harm, domestic violence, new to the school, etc.). Again, it frustrated me that I wasn't educated about psychology in general, and that I had limitations as a student. Once I realized that I needed to obtain a license of some sort in order to perform certain actions (ex. assessing/diagnosing, committing clients to involuntary hospitalization for their safety, etc.), I started doing my research and ultimately chose to become a marriage and family therapist in the state of California. =)