Sonia, who graduated from the Music School of Zakynthos this year, realized early on that in life you have to follow what you love and "be good at it", as she puts it.

We spoke with her about her participation in the "Mental Health: an in-school approach" program, and we're sharing everything she told us. The conversation began with her love of music. She's been singing since she was little and hopes to study Musicology in Corfu. As graduation approaches, she often finds herself asking, "what actually motivates me?", "what will I find out there?" — and that's exactly where her story about the program begins.

She remembers being nervous, like many of her classmates, during the first live group session she took part in with a mentor working as a psychologist. It was completely new for them to talk with a stranger in their classroom and ask for their advice, as she puts it. Soon, though, she felt comfortable asking her questions freely — questions she and her classmates would prepare in advance, together with their teacher.

Sonia, who was initially anxious about speaking with someone she didn't know, has some advice for her peers: "Don't be shy about asking anything at all, and hold on to everything you hear as information, because it's genuinely there for your benefit. Then go after whatever you truly love most, and keep learning. Whatever information is out there, hold on to it."

Continuing the conversation, Sonia says that throughout the program, after each session with a mentor, she and her classmates would discuss what they'd learned. These "new bits of information", as she calls them, would spark even more conversations among them. In the session with the psychologist in particular, they enjoyed digging deeper into collaboration and our relationship with others. That experience led Sonia to reflect on how she and the people around her behave, strengthening both her self-awareness and her understanding and respect for others.

Something she repeatedly comes back to is that every conversation with a mentor gave her something to think about — offering her with a "quite beautiful guidance" as she calls it. She's also quick to express her gratitude toward their teacher, who brought the program to their school for the first time — "she's always running around for us, and every educator should be like that for their students. She truly gives her best, she does everything for the school and her work", Sonia says.

For Sonia, this unfamiliar experience was a chance to get a sense of what the world looks like after school. She and her classmates were in the middle of a search, looking for information that will help them shape their future.

In this context, the mentors felt to her like "people close to us, who care about us and advise us", as she puts it. She specifically emphasizes that "taking part in the program was the best possible way to learn the benefits and drawbacks of a profession, as well as the skills you need to actually be good at it straight from the professionals who do the work themselves”.

Sonia saved the program's biggest impact on her for last: the way it shaped her thinking. As she puts it, "every time a live group session ended, I'd think that I needed to change my mindset — that time keeps passing, and you have to do things for yourself, put in the effort for yourself, and choose what's healthy, what's true. That's the part that shaped me most, my way of thinking." She says she tries to put what she learned into practice — to collaborate harmoniously, with greater understanding for the people around her, and, as she puts it, to aim for "beautiful things, not out of obligation, but because you love yourself and you show it."

She thanked our team for the opportunity to take part in the educational program, saying, "so many people work together at The Tipping Point so that we can have something beautiful, for the greater good. They help other people and I hope I can do the same someday. It's kind of amazing to think that what you're doing in Zakynthos through the program, a kid at another school, further away, is doing too. It's incredibly important work. All the effort you put in makes a real difference, it's really helping!".

We thank Sonia for everything she shared with us in this conversation. Her story reminds us that when a young person has access to knowledge and inspiration that becomes something to build on, they can chart their path forward with confidence.