So I'm 14 years old. I go to middle school. I'm going into ninth grade next year. I guess the fact that being a teenager, there are a bunch of extra emotions that are really hard to deal with. And so I’ve come across several people who around my age struggle with something. It might not be—it’s never the exact same of what I go through, but I know something similar.

And so I feel like I can help and I can understand and have empathy for those other people and realize that I'm not the only person going through something because I don’t talk about my feelings, like, at all. And so I would guess that there are going to be those people who are struggling inside. And it’s really—you’re not alone because there are other people around you who understand, and the Lord knows your heart and understands what you are going through.

So I've struggled with depression for a lot of my life.

We started to recognize it around third grade.

It was actually really hard at first because some of it is developmental age. So recognizing the signs that she was going through depression was a little difficult. I have experienced depression, but hers looks different than mine. And I just felt like maybe I was portraying some of my symptoms on her.

But the more I reached out to family members and friends, I recognized, No, this isn’t just developmental. It's not just because I'm dealing with this.

There’s some things going on. As I’ve told different people, different things that they've responded or different things have been so helpful. I've had a really awesome best friend who,

when I told her, she came over with a gift basket and

had a blanket and popcorn and different things, and that was so helpful to know that I'm not alone in what I'm going through.

Some things that helped is we found a therapist that eventually understood Emily. So don’t give up on therapy would be what I would totally say because some therapists mesh differently with different kids. And so it’s hard, though, to keep trying. It was exhausting for her to repeat her story to somebody new every time. But when we found her therapist, like blessed day!

I even gave her the choice. Before, I was just looking at what worked with our insurance. Finally, I sat down and I found some people who worked with our insurance, and we walked through each person and their profile, and she picked, and that made a huge difference.

It was her choice: Okay, this is who I want to talk to. And that's where we started really making headway.

And so that was a big help. Also, trying a new medicine made a world of difference. She went from, like, she was this bright girl who was super involved with lots of things and wanted to be a part of every party. She plans her own birthday party. She’s super outgoing, and you could just see this cloud of darkness. She didn’t want to hang out with people. She didn’t want to do anything. She just started hiding inside. And then with the medicine, it was, like, all of a sudden, Oh, I want to go out for track. I want to be in yearbook. All the things that were so a part of her personality. And my husband and I would talk and I’d be, like, Oh, my gosh, it’s my Emily. I’m so happy she’s back. To see the cloud leave

was just amazing. The medication isn’t something that defines me. I use it so that I can get help, so I can be my regular self.

I've always struggled with regularly reading my scriptures and saying my prayers. But just recently I've done really good at writing in my journal and reading my scriptures and saying my prayers. And I've noticed that I can see lots of different things in my life. That's been really helpful. I'll randomly open my scriptures and it’ll be one scripture that I’ll just be, like, wow, and be so helpful for me at the time. And then later I’ll go back and read it and realize that, oh, I don't even understand. And it's crazy how the Spirit speaks to me in different ways.

And I guess just reading my scriptures, I’ll just be happier, I guess, because I have the Spirit with me more.

The Lord has been with me every step of the way.

Sure, there’s some moments where I’m, like, Oh, is he really there?

But we're never alone. There's always going to be someone. We’re in families for a reason.

Talk to your parents, because they are so amazing, and they really, really care for you. And my mom, she means the world to me. She will drop everything and come help me. I’m so grateful for her.