Hi, my name is Jazmin, and asking for help like this is not easy for me. But I have reached a point in my nursing journey where I have realized that sometimes making it to the finish line means allowing other people to help carry you there.

My story started long before nursing school.

I was adopted when I was 2 years old after spending part of my early childhood in the foster care system. Because I was extremely shy and had some developmental delays at the time, there were concerns that I could become a “failure to thrive” child.

Thankfully, that was not where my story ended.

I grew up determined to prove what I was capable of. I went on to earn my bachelor’s degree in Psychology and found my passion working with individuals with mental and behavioral health needs.

Those experiences completely changed the direction of my life.

Throughout the jobs I have held in mental and behavioral healthcare, I have cared for people who needed patience, advocacy, compassion, and someone willing to see the PERSON behind the diagnosis or disability. Some of the most meaningful moments of my career have come from parents and family members thanking me simply because they could see how genuinely I cared for their loved one.

I never wanted the people in my care to feel like they were “just another patient” or another task that needed to be completed.

That is the kind of nurse I want to become.

My goal is to become a psychiatric nurse and eventually dedicate my career to caring for individuals and families affected by mental illness. Psychiatric nursing can be emotionally demanding work, but that is exactly why I feel called to it. People experiencing mental-health crises deserve nurses who are patient, compassionate, observant, and willing to advocate for them even during their hardest moments. Their families deserve support, education, and reassurance too.

I want to be that nurse.

Right now, however, I need some help getting there.

I am entering the final stretch of nursing school, and financially it has become increasingly difficult to continue. While attending nursing school, I was also working to support myself. Unfortunately, I was discharged from my job following ongoing scheduling conflicts between work and the demands of nursing school and clinical rotations.

Losing that income while continuing school has put me in an extremely difficult position.

Nursing school does not stop at tuition. Clinical rotations can require significant travel, gasoline, hotels, food, school supplies, testing expenses, and other costs. At the same time, I still have normal living expenses while trying to dedicate the time necessary to successfully complete one of the most demanding years of my education.

I am also carrying the financial responsibility of my previous bachelor's degree in Psychology—the degree that first gave me the foundation to understand mental health and ultimately helped lead me toward psychiatric nursing.

I have come too far to allow finances to be the reason I cannot finish.

Any money raised through this GoFundMe will help with nursing-school tuition and educational expenses, transportation and gasoline for clinical rotations, hotel stays when clinical placements require long-distance travel, and basic living expenses while I complete school and work toward becoming an RN.

My goal is not simply to earn another degree or put “RN” behind my name.

I want to spend my career caring for a population that is too often misunderstood, stigmatized, or overlooked.

One day, I want a frightened patient experiencing a mental-health crisis to know that the nurse standing beside them genuinely cares about what happens to them. I want a parent who is exhausted and scared for their child to feel like someone on the healthcare team truly sees their family. I want my patients to receive the same compassion and dignity that I would want someone to give to a person I love.

I cannot predict exactly where this career will take me, but I know the kind of nurse I intend to become.

I want to become an exceptional psychiatric nurse—not because it is easy, but because these patients and their families deserve people who genuinely want to be there.

The little girl who entered foster care and was once thought to be at risk of failing to thrive has already earned a bachelor's degree and made it this far through nursing school.

Now I am asking for help making it through the final stretch.

If you are able to donate, no amount is too small. If you cannot donate, sharing my story would mean just as much to me.

Every donation, share, and word of encouragement brings me one step closer to graduating, becoming a registered nurse, and beginning the career I feel I was meant to pursue.

Thank you for believing in me and for helping me turn everything I have overcome into a career dedicated to helping others.

With love and gratitude,

Jazmin
Future RN & Psychiatric Nurse