Fund Zola to finish last year of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program

Hello! If you’re reading this, you might know me personally, or you might know me through the church community and Christian organizations. Or you might be a fellow Asian who immigrated to the USA. Maybe you have been in therapy and understand how important it is. Perhaps you're thinking about supporting future therapists who will work to make a difference in the world. Whatever reason you landed on this page, I'm glad you're here! And it's nice to meet you digitally if we never met in person.

My name is Zola, and I’m from Mongolia. I believe everyone deserves to live a whole, complete, and fulfilled life regardless of what they experienced in the past. I'm a great believer in the effectiveness of a holistic and integrative approach to counseling. Through my personal journey, I've learned the importance of connecting to my whole and authentic self. My mission is to educate, advocate and empower trauma-experienced adults so that they can live fulfilled lives and influence and support those who have had similar experiences. I'm passionate about working with the immigrant population, including Mongolian Americans, since we have limited resources, mental health services, and mental health professionals to help.

As you are taking the time to read, I'd like to invite you to partner with me and consider donating to my GoFundMe to support me in finishing my grad school. First, I'd like to tell you about my background, financial situation, and why I'm on a journey to becoming a therapist.

I'm currently a student at Moody Theological Seminary, majoring in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) emphasis on trauma. This is my last year of the master's program, and I’m doing my internship at Wilbur Wright College Wellness Center in Chicago, Illinois. Suppose you are familiar with the academic requirement of the CMHC program and licensure. In that case, you may understand the amount of time, work, and energy that counseling students need to graduate, get licensed, and work in the mental health field. As a clinician in training, I’m working on a site for more than 20 hours every week for a whole academic year to complete 700 clock hours of unpaid internship while taking full-time classes, working on my thesis project, and preparing for the license exam. I'm enjoying my classes and internship experience as I develop my clinical skills and get real work experience.

However, I'm feeling anxious and overwhelmed with not being able to work much and not having enough financial resources to complete my master's degree. As an international student from a low-income family, getting higher education in the States has been challenging. Since starting the master's program, I've been working hard to pay my tuition and received some scholarships as well. Unfortunately, this academic year I don’t have enough financial resources. I have saved up some money to pay for the last year of school, but it simply isn't enough.

Before coming to the USA, I worked as a social worker in my home country- Mongolia. I hold two Bachelor of Art degrees in Social Work Studies and Linguistics. I worked with at-risk youth, victims of human trafficking, and middle and high school students. I also have volunteer experience working at orphanages, churches, and non-profit organizations which provide services for low-income families, orphan children, and people who struggle with addiction. When I worked as a social worker, counseling was a part of my job description, even though I wasn't trained enough in clinical counseling. It was a challenge for me to provide a decent counseling service for our clients when I worked in a field with a tremendous need for limited resources and training. So, I often felt that I need to gain more knowledge and skills in counseling to better support my community. Therefore, I decided to come to the USA and get trained as a clinical counselor.

This GoFundMe will help with my tuition and other educational costs. I put down $12,000 as the goal for my educational expenses, even though the total cost of living for one year is about $26,000.

If you want to support future therapists/ helping professionals, care about me, or believe in my mission, I invite you to donate to my GoFundMe. This GoFundMe will help me with my tuition and other educational expenses.

If you want to connect with me, please contact me by e-mail: [email redacted].

If you know an individual, non-government organization, or church that supports psychology/ clinical counseling students, please feel free to reach out. And I'd love to connect as well.

If you cannot donate, however, I invite you to share my GoFundMe with your family, friends, or church members who might be interested in supporting me.

I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to read, share, interact and gift. Thank you so much.