Yadira Mangual

I completed my Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Lehman College which is located In the Bronx, N.Y. My Bachelor’s Degree included a concentration in education, because most of my life, I thought I wanted to become a teacher.I spent a lot of my young adult years working at schools. After several years of being in the field, I was able to reflect that in order for me to make a bigger impact in the world, I had to get to the root and core of the concerns and worries of the children. I felt that to work closely and dive into a person’s heart, feelings, emotions, trauma, setbacks, and insecurities you had to work with them outside the classroom setting. After Completing my bachelor’s degree in 2016, I started my first career job in social services. I worked with the undocumented minor population migrating from places like Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador reuniting the minors with their families within the United States. Overall, I was touched by their stories, paths of life, and humble hearts. Later on, in the Fall of 2019. I started my graduate program journey and fell more and more in love with the world of social work and mental health, those three years of continuous learning validated that I chose the right career choice. I had two great internship experiences, the first one was at my full-time job with undocumented minors as a Clinician where I was able to focus on the emotions and behaviors of children starting from four to seventeen years old. My second internship experience was as a therapist at a private practice. From the beginning to the end of this experience, the thoughts were always “This is my true passion”, and “Being a therapist is my dream job”. I had the pleasure of working with teens and adults up until the age of 52. After dealing with such a wide range of ages I knew this is my true purpose and calling in life! My latest experience after relocating from New York in 2022, was as a Hospice Social Worker. This was the topic for my capstone project in my master’s degree program. I was always very connected and empathetic about one of the toughest stages in life, which is dealing with death/loss/ and the grieving process. I lost my great-grandmother to Alzheimer’s Disease in 2013. I miss her so much and decided to give back to the older population that shared her same experience with this sad disease. I always tried my best to make the last months, days, and moments of my patient’s life joyful and peaceful. I sang worship songs to my patients by their bedside, I made them smile by complimenting them and bringing them birthday gifts or surprises like crossword puzzles, pajamas, teddy bears, flowers, etc. I attended wakes and funerals even on my days off, continuously validating the emotions of the family members on grief and loss, praying for their strength, and providing them with useful resources. Languages : English and Spanish