Hongying Cole

I am new in the U.S, and I am working hard to try to qualify myself in order to participate in the society. I am a student at Palm Beach State College. My current study is preparing me to get into the medical field in this country. My life goal is to help and take care of people with physical and mental needs. I was a psychotherapist in China where I worked in a teaching hospital with adults who struggled with mental illness, drug and alcohol addictions, psycho-somatic disorders, as well as those who fought with natural or psycho-social disasters, such as dysfunctional families and marriages. I also worked with children with autism and mental disabilities, helping their families to restore their social functions; I helped young people, especially adolescents, to begin their lives with finding their life meanings and setting life goals, encouraging them to do their best.
I volunteered in the magnitude eight earthquake in 2008 in China. I went into the earthquake area at the third day after the earthquake and worked almost ten hours per day for one year, helping people to ready themselves mentally to go back to their normal life where they had to face huge changes after the disaster. After I came to the U.S, I discovered that if I wanted to continue my previous career and perform well, I would have to learn a lot to be able to have better understanding and deep work efforts in this multiple culture environment as a psychologist. The first step is to study and keep on studying, I know it takes time and needs hard work though, any difficulties will not stop me to engage myself into this society. I believe I should do something to help people by taking a different role in health care. This is why I made a change in my my career course, to enable myself to become a part of this society as much as possible. I will do my best.