Hi I’m Florence Grove and I’m 18 years old, on the 1st January 2019, I will be shaving my hair off not only for the Charity ‘Mind’ but for my own mental health.

I started suffering from anxiety when I was around 6 years old specially from a swallowing problem called Dysphagia. This lead to me becoming underweight and being admitted to CAHMS, where I had counselling for several weeks, like most mental health disorders it takes time to go back to your usual self and although I relapsed a year later, I was strong and despite being young carried on through primary into secondary with little worry.
I still suffered with anxiety symptoms and would sometime feel overwhelmed but with such a supportive family around me I’d begun to make my way though my teenage years with a healthy mindset. Beginning one of the most academically challenging years of my life ignited a worry and fear in me that I’d perhaps never felt, leading to, I feel like many other year 11s, sleepless nights, constant worry, fatigue and an wave of okay days and hopeless days, not to mention the amount of tears shed . Although my anxiety was at the worst it had been, I managed, through seeing a counsellor and a academic coach to get grades I never thought I could achieve.
Fast forward to Christmas 2017 I began to take a nose dive, with starting year 12 happy and strong. I’d began to feel this hopeless feeling I’d felt previously, one night just after New Years I was sobbing into my mum finally having built confidence to confide in her. Mum and dad found me a counsellor to start seeing every week and it was one of the best decisions I’d ever made. I still had bad days and good days but I’d began to feel again myself.
On the 18th May 2018, my dad found out he had kidney Cancer, you always think it’s never going to be my family, not my dad and yet it was. Words can never explain the feeling and I will always be unconditionally grateful for how early they where able to catch it. After having half his kidney removed and being in the clear it was not only a time for a physical healing but a mental healing in the family. During and after the process I cried in the 6th form office more than I’d like to admit and I was so frustrated that after hours of work I’d put in to put myself in the healthiest mind possible I felt back at square one. From then till now has been without a doubt one of the hardest parts of my life and while I’m still going through the struggle I want to be able to help others and let people know that how there feeling is not unusual and you will get better, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Why shaving off my hair?
For those of you that know me my hair has always been a point of confidence for me, I’ve dyed it so many times and had it every style under the sun. For me this is a fresh start, 2019 - a journey full of positivity. I want to cut it off because I want to find full happiness within myself not just the way I look or what I have.

Thank you!
Thank you firstly to my family, Mum, Dad, Abigayle, Dillon (Hunny&Teddy) my constant support love and happiness in this world x
To all my school friends, Maiya, Pava, Ella, Katherine, Kitty, Abbie and my wonderful drama class, some days your the only thought that makes school bearable xxxxx
To Lucile and Patricia for making dinner and looking after our puppies when dad was in hospital and we where exhausted
And
To my counsellor who for the past year has been the most amazing person ever!