The Importance of Support in Achieving My Dreams

March 29, 2025 | By Bray­den Pape

I had the unwa­ver­ing sup­port of my mom when I came out. But not every­one is that for­tu­nate. Many LGBTQ+ youth face rejec­tion from their fam­i­lies and are kicked out of their homes. The need for men­tal health ser­vices for LGBTQ+ youth has nev­er been more urgent, and these ser­vices must be acces­si­ble to every­one.

Ther­a­py played a cru­cial role in my growth. I real­ized how much it helped me to under­stand myself bet­ter. In fact, since sixth grade, I’ve want­ed to become a child psy­chol­o­gist because ther­a­py pro­vid­ed me the sup­port and guid­ance I need­ed to nav­i­gate becom­ing my authen­tic self.

The Hard Real­i­ty for Many LGBTQ+ Youth

When I was 15, I became deeply moved by peo­ple expe­ri­enc­ing home­less­ness and the strug­gles of unhoused LGBTQ+ youth. 

Unfor­tu­nate­ly, a dis­pro­por­tion­ate num­ber of home­less youth are from the LGBTQ+ com­mu­ni­ty, and many of them face the heart­break­ing real­i­ty of being kicked out of their homes sim­ply because of their sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion.

Fam­i­ly sup­port is crit­i­cal. So many young peo­ple are denied that sup­port. They are forced to leave their homes with nowhere to turn. It has been a cor­ner­stone in shap­ing the per­son I am today. This is why I’m ded­i­cat­ed to cre­at­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for change. I start­ed vol­un­teer­ing in mid­dle school and, dri­ven by my pas­sion, even­tu­al­ly found­ed my own non­prof­it. Young peo­ple want to make a dif­fer­ence in their com­mu­ni­ty and Nation­al Rain­bow Schol­ar­ship Fund (NRCF) empow­ers stu­dents to achieve their dreams. 

Becom­ing My Authen­tic Self

Grow­ing up, I was con­fused about my iden­ti­ty. Once I began to under­stand myself more ful­ly, I was able to embrace who I was with­in the com­mu­ni­ty. That clar­i­ty gave me the free­dom to evolve into my authen­tic self and fueled my desire to sup­port oth­ers.

The Impact of Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund

Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund has been instru­men­tal in my journey—not only finan­cial­ly but also emo­tion­al­ly. This schol­ar­ship doesn’t sole­ly ease the finan­cial bur­den of school; it cre­ates a com­mu­ni­ty where stu­dents feel val­ued, vis­i­ble and accept­ed. The sense of belong­ing it pro­vides is invalu­able, and it’s some­thing every stu­dent deserves.

I recent­ly had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to share my sto­ry in a TV inter­view, where I dis­cussed how the schol­ar­ship empow­ers stu­dents like me to find our voic­es. You can watch that inter­view here.

Why I Want to Be a Child Psy­chol­o­gist

My mom has always been my num­ber one sup­port­er. Her con­stant love and encour­age­ment mean every­thing to me. A sup­port sys­tem is so impor­tant, and I want to pro­vide that for oth­ers. This is why I’ve cho­sen to pur­sue a career as a child psy­chol­o­gist. I want to be the per­son who lis­tens, believes, and helps chil­dren feel seen, sup­port­ed and under­stood.

Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund has been a major step­ping stone in achiev­ing my dreams. It helped with my tuition, allow­ing me to stay on track. I’m minor­ing in Amer­i­can Sign Lan­guage (ASL) because there are so few ther­a­pists in San Diego Coun­ty who are flu­ent in ASL. I want to make sure that I can reach and help as many chil­dren as pos­si­ble, par­tic­u­lar­ly those who may not have any­one who believes in them.

About the Author
Bray­den Pape (they/them) is a fresh­man at Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia San Diego, study­ing to become a child psy­chol­o­gist. They are a proud recip­i­ent of the Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund schol­ar­ship.