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While she was in college, Lauren Langley, 25, was just trying to graduate. With the credits she had earned by her senior year, she was closest to graduating with a degree in psychology, so she finished the major. 

Once she got her first job, working as a therapist for patients 21 years old or younger, Langley learned how important mental health is and fell in love with helping children through their problems.

“I wasn’t taught anything about mental health in school,” Langley said. “It’s kind of like you have all these classes and when do I use that in life? In college, when I started psychology, it was one of those things where I am closest to this degree, and I am so ready to get out of undergrad that I will do anything. Then, I started working with mental health patients and under 21 [year old] patients. That’s when it became so important to me because these kids don’t have a voice, and there’s no hope sometimes. Being able to be that voice for them and advocating for their mental health. There are people out there that really don’t understand anything about mental health. It’s one of those topics that is kind of touchy, but it’s the hard questions that you have to ask sometimes.”

Langley works as a Mental Health Counselor for Chambers County, a job she has worked in for nearly a year. In her job, she works solely with the adolescent demographic, helping the youth of Chambers County through their problems.

“I feel like, even though my clients sometimes don’t think I can relate to them on a teenage level, I remember how hard it was to navigate teenage years,” Langley said. “You just can’t see a clear path, you think irrationally and everything is too much for you to handle. You get to adulthood, and you realize that was really small. They have to do the work just as much as you do. Being able to see them go from ‘I can’t do anything, this is useless,’ to saying ‘I did or I can,’ has really sparked my interest in the adolescent demographic. It’s never boring, and they’re great. They’re very honest. They’re never going to sugarcoat anything that you’re talking about.”

Langley said a part of the job she loves is working with her coworkers, Monica Harris, who is now her supervisor, and Ursula Davis.

Langley is a native of Chambers County, where she, her three sisters and her parents all grew up. 

While she was going through high school, Langley never thought she would stay in Chambers County once she graduated from high school. Now that she has returned after college, she has realized how special the county is to her life.

“Chambers County is important. It’s a really special place because my parents were born and raised here, me and my three sisters were born here. It’s one of those places where I was ready to get out, but I really want to see this place continue to grow,” Langley said.