JUST a year ago, 18-year-old Alice White was hospitalised for mental health issues.
After spending nine months in a psychiatric unit, which helped save her life, today she is training for one of the most gruelling obstacle courses around – all to raise money for the charity Mind.
The Tough Mudder 12-mile obstacle course, which was designed by British special forces and includes crawling under electric fences and scaling walls, strikes fear into the hearts of grown men, but the plucky teen, who is also a type-1 diabetic, is ready for the challenge.
"If I wasn't diabetic, I'd be in the Army now, so this is as close as I can get," explained Alice of Hatfield Peverel.
"I went to my diabetic nurse a few weeks ago and she asked about my plans. I told her I was doing Tough Mudder and she said that it is against medical advice, but I was like 'never mind, I'm young'.
"It is just something you do. I have had diabetes since I was ten, so I can't actually remember not having it. It is like everything – the world doesn't stop, it carries on, so you just have to keep going with it."
Alice is keen to raise as much money as she can for Mind, which she says helped her through one of the darkest periods of her life.
"I had a deterioration of mental health and was moved into an adolescent psychiatric unit where I had intensive therapy. I was there for nine months and it was this charity Mind that enabled me to progress to get back out into the community, back into education," she said.
"Whenever I listen to the news, it's all mental health cuts, but I want to do this because I had a fantastic service that has enabled me to do the things I am doing and to still be here."
Mind estimates that one in four people will suffer from mental health problems in any given year, and Alice is keen to help other people by working in the system that she credits with saving her life.
"I am thinking once I have finished my college course next year, I am hoping to go to university to become a mental health nurse so I can go back into the system and help other people. It's not like an X Factor sob story but I have had the insight, I have been there as a patient, so I would like to go back to help."
As well as fitting in at least ten miles of running a week, Alice has been preparing for Tough Mudder, which will take place on October 25 in London, by training with Chelmsford City ladies football club and doing a training session with the Marines, via her college.
And her optimism is sure to help her complete the course. "I volunteered at Brownstock land was on stage drinking beer with Razorlight. I am going to do Tough Mudder and get absolutely ruined. I have one year left in education that I am going to smash, and then I am going to go out into the world and take it on."
To donate to Alice's Tough Mudder run for Mind, visit: www.justgiving.com/AliceandAimeeMud
