Kyla Kennedy Mooney is a junior here at Silverado willing to make her dreams of becoming a therapist come true. Mooney always lends her friends a helping hand with advice when they are feeling down. Many of her friends compliment and thank her for listening and for the guidance.

Some of Mooney’s friends and family struggle with mental health, causing her to feel the exigence of this career even more. She hopes to help those who surround her, teaching them to not be afraid of their emotions but to understand them. 

“I want to be able to help other people with their struggles and help to not fear their emotions,” Mooney says. 

 Mooney is currently taking any classes she can to better herself and help her understand the ways of a therapist. As of this year, she is taking psychology, which is teaching her definitions of mental disabilities and even medicine. 

Mooney is in Nick Pavlides’ Psychology I course, and she says it’s a very interesting elective. In this class, they are currently learning about the brain. In the beginning of the year, they were learning through experiments about what causes people to act the way they do. This was Mooney’s favorite lesson in the class so far. 

To accomplish her goal of becoming a therapist, she is planning on taking a year break of school when she graduates to save up money for college, and then attend college. Mooney is already looking into colleges she’s interested in, hoping to attend USC (University of Southern California.) 

In college, she will take classes on ethics in therapy and counseling, and she will also continue on with psychology. Mooney has goals set for her college years to help drive her motivation and assist her in her career. Her goals are to expand her knowledge, attend a college and receive a degree in counseling. 

Mooney is prepared with a “plan B” if she is unable to pursue her therapist dream. She thinks it would be a great idea to run her very own business.

Mooney has a couple of ideas in mind, such as flipping old items into something new and then selling them. Another idea of hers is to open her unique cat café where she would sell cat-themed bakery goods along with cats just hanging around.

Although these are very good backup plans, she will still try her best to succeed. Mooney is very confident in her future profession as a therapist.