At just 10 years-old, Chloe was showing signs of extreme anxiety and compulsions. Struggling to express her feelings, Chloe’s behavior at home began to escalate and the conflict became too much for the entire family.

Seeking immediate support for their daughter, Chloe’s parents reached out to the team at Children’s Home Society of Florida’s Safe Harbor Shelter. At Safe Harbor, Chloe began working with a counselor to identify her underlying mental health challenges and find healthy and constructive ways to process and cope with her emotions.

Working with her counselor, Chloe found a positive outlet in writing poetry. Chloe found that writing allowed her to express her thoughts and feelings in a judgment-free way and she began to turn her stress and worry into sincere and creative works of art.

“I use my poetry to express myself whether I’m anxious, angry, sad or happy,” said Chloe.

Chloe returned home with her family feeling stronger and continued to participate in counseling. At 13, Chloe is now successfully graduating the counseling program and wants to inspire others with her poetry. She hopes that by reading her poems, others will relate to the deeper meaning of her writing.

“I hope someone can use them as a source of comfort and understanding of what people my age may be going through or feeling,” said Chloe.

A sample of Chloe’s poetry is below:

Tears
By: Chloe

You try to stay afloat but you sink to the bottom as you choke. Swallowing the emotions you held, and the emotions you wont let go. No one knows how often you cry because you whisper your sorrows deep inside, till the monster within your soul is ready to let it all go. You try to understand why you’re always sad you think about the past mistakes, but shuffle away anything great. You never think to pull the plug to your bathtub full of no fun, so you sit there trying to swim but you get tugged down till you cant swim back up again.