Three years into my professional career, I felt I needed a change of direction. Sitting behind a desk all day was wearing me down, and I wanted to step away from the computer to pursue a more human-centered design approach. Even before graduating from Michigan State, I knew I wanted to pursue graduate education, so I figured it was time to take the jump. I applied and got into multiple schools I was excited about.
Yet, after I committed to MICA, I felt my self-doubt creep back in. It was going to be a big move. I was about to remove myself from a comfortable life in favor of a debt-ridden, uncertain future. Deep down, I knew I was making the right decision, but the ruminations drove me crazy. I wasn’t feeling like myself and wasn’t interested in hanging out with my friends, despite the fact that I was soon leaving them for a new place. As the year progressed, my negative thoughts worsened.
When I got to Baltimore, my anxiety reached its peak. I had severe panic attacks and was unable to leave the house. I distinctly remember going to a walk-in group-therapy session on the verge of tears. All of the health-conscious techniques I tried to make me feel better were not working. To my dismay, it was very difficult to find a therapist covered under my insurance, and student counseling was filled up. I remember sitting in my bathtub with a list of therapists and my phone, making one call after another: wait list, wait list, no new patients, leave a message. I bussed to far-away, unfamiliar areas of the city and waited in long lines for walk-in clinics, only to be told that it would cost me $800 for a session. Eventually, I was able to find something covered under my insurance, albeit about a 20-minute drive from my house. Trying to find someone to help me with my anxiety was anxiety-inducing. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if I hadn’t had insurance.
Early thesis ideas
Imagine an entire year dedicated to eating, sleeping, and breathing in the service of a singular creative enterprise. This is what it feels like to work on the immersive—and sometimes elusive—MFA thesis project. At the end of the first year in the GDMFA program at MICA, students are required to choose a topic that will serve as the subject of this one-year, independent, intensive experience that represents a culmination of skill and perspective developed before and during graduate school—a graphic-design
magnum opus. I chose to address the gaps in mental health care experienced by young adults.
I came to MICA because I wanted to make things that have positive impacts on people’s lives. Having lived with anxiety for so long and having known so many others who have dealt with similar issues, I wanted to encourage dialogue about mental health in a creative, memorable way that people would be able to relate to their own lives. And I wanted it to be humorous and fun; many products and services in this area are either prohibitively pricey or overly clinical. From all of this, Worry Quest was born.