As a child, my home was filled with poverty and abuse. While I understood now that both of my parents had a mental illness, at the time it was devastating. I initially had good self-esteem as a young child, but eventually after hearing negative things over and over, and being physically and emotionally abused, my positive self-esteem was destroyed. I didn’t think I had anything to offer the world. However, I wanted to work with children and teenagers who struggled through