About the Author:

My name is Najla. I am the first person in my family to go to college in quite a few generations. I grew up in poverty in a physically and mentally abusive two-parent household with seven kids. I am desperately trying to break the cycle. But I do need help.

When I was 11, my 13-year-old brother, the sibling I was closest to, ended his own life in front of me. He passed a few hours later. My parents never got help for any of us. At 20, after a few unsuccessful attempts to end myself, I finally realized that I needed some kind of help and reached out to a therapist. She taught me about boundaries, helped me build my self-esteem, worked through many of the traumas, and overall helped me realize my self-worth. At 22, I released 3 children's books into my community that I wrote and self published, that touches on mental health in an indirect way. Touching on themes like depression after losing a loved one, and self image and acceptance.

My end goal is to pursue my Bachelor's and Master's in Psychology and eventually become a Mental Health Counselor to learn and eventually be able to be there for struggling humans like myself and make a difference in the world. I aim to continue writing and publishing children's books with storylines that help with hard mental health themes.