The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond XXXIII

LOUISA FIX
JEANINE STANSFIELD, TEACHER
Warren-Prescott K-8 School, Boston, MA
What is courage? Courage can have many meanings to every person in the
world. My definition of courage is the strength to push through when things are
difficult and to beat all obstacles that stand in your way. My name is Louisa,
I am eleven years old, and this is my story of courage.
When I was in the fifth grade, I thought about harming myself. The main way
I showed courage was saying that I needed help. After talking to my parents, I
started going to a therapist. Going to a therapist has never been easy, especially
because therapists are people you don’t know, and that can be scary. Another
way that I show courage is by getting through each session and coming out
braver and stronger about my mental health than ever before.
“ANOTHER WAY THAT
I SHOW COURAGE IS
BY GETTING THROUGH
EACH SESSION AND
COMING OUT BRAVER
AND STRONGER ABOUT
MY MENTAL HEALTH
THAN EVER BEFORE.”
I am now feeling better, but I am still going to a therapist every other week to
continue to improve my mental health. I am much less self-conscious and am
so much better and happier now.
When talking to my therapist, I have to tell her specific details from the
previous week or weeks. It is difficult because sometimes I don’t know how
to say what I need to say. I have benefited from seeing a therapist to help me
manage my emotions, which helps me protect myself from the anger inside
of me. Therapy has helped me overcome my emotions and control the
emotions that I feel.
Even though it is difficult to talk about these times, it can help your mental
health, and it also helps with your physical and social health. For social health,
if you are less self-conscious about your mental health, it might be easier to
make friends because you aren’t afraid of being made fun of. Similarly, if you
are not nervous about your mental health, you might be able to exercise, get out
of your house more, and be more confident in yourself.
Even though therapy takes up my time, and I thought it was a waste of time at
first, I realized that it was not. It is important, and it is much-needed time for
me. Going to therapy has made me realize that the strategies I am given to help
control my emotions help me not want to harm myself. I have realized these
strategies also help me control sudden outbursts.
If you ever experience the circumstances I went through, even though it might
be complicated, I recommend that you go to a few therapy sessions. This helped
me through tough times; you could help yourself so much, and you could save
yourself from self-harm.
THE COURAGE OF CHILDREN: BOSTON AND BEYOND
VOLUME XXXIII
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