Hi, I'm Rosie. I'm raising money for Young Minds, a children's mental health charity, by walking a marathon in a day with my brother and sister which will be completed one day during Easter. I've struggled with my mental health for a long time. Since I was a child, I've dealt with OCD and Emetophobia. As a teenager, self-harm consumed my life. Despite seeking help from children's mental health services (CAMHS), I was dismissed due to my low risk at the time. However, the long waiting lists for therapy meant that I was pushed to the bottom of the list. My self-harm became more severe, and after an overdose, I was admitted to a psychiatric hospital miles away from home at the age of 16. I spent the next five months there, it was a horrible and traumatic experience. Inadequate staffing due to the lack of funding meant that incidents happened far too often and the therapy that I thought would be frequent was not. Screaming, banging, and alarms became normal to me.

Three years later, I'm still suffering from the nightmares and trauma that hospital caused. I came out of the hospital worse than before; I developed an eating disorder and continued to self-harm. Shortly after I was discharged, I lost a good friend, who I had been living with on the ward for the past 5 months, to suicide - it was heartbreaking.

CAMHS eventually assigned me a psychologist who worked through my issues and traumas & taught me coping mechanisms. This was not a quick fix and required hard work and dedication.

Now, I've been self-harm free for over a year, and I achieved 3 A*s in my A-Levels in Psychology, Business, and Law last year. I'm now studying Management at the University of Bath with the dream of becoming a lawyer. Life truly does get better, and there is light at the end of the tunnel.

By raising money, I want to help reduce waiting list times and support the Young Minds #EndTheWait campaign, so people like me can access help before it gets to the point of needing an inpatient admission. I firmly believe that the additional pain and trauma I experienced could have been avoided if I was offered therapy when I first sought help.

Any donations would be kindly appreciated to help me reach my goal.

Thank you x