An NHS worker from County Durham has praised the mental health benefits of swimming after completing her own “emotional” swim around Jersey.
Marie-Helene Sanderson also raised more than £3,000 for a charity that helped her through difficult times.
After giving up swimming as a child, the 43-year-old said she had always wanted to swim across the Channel but dismissed the idea as “a childhood dream” – until she met friends who were swimmers.
One recommended swimming around Jersey as a challenge in the build-up to crossing the Channel.
Marie-Helene explained: “It meant something to me to come back to Jersey because, when I was little, my dad was the one who took me swimming. He died when I was ten and the first holiday after that was to Jersey.”
She returned to Jersey for a “really beautiful swim” around the coastline.
“It felt really emotional being back,” said Marie-Helene.
“I kind of felt it was a nice way to be close to my dad.”
Marie-Helene raised more than £3,000 for the Just for Women Centre in Stanley, which supports women around mental health, poverty, trauma and domestic violence.
She explained she had received counselling through the charity – and that her counsellor had even helped her link swimming with her mental health.
“He said: ‘How do you feel when you swim?’,” explained Marie-Helene.
“I said I feel really at home in the water, I feel alive and strong.
“He said: ‘We need to help you feel like that on dry land.’ That really resonated with me.”
In the 18 months leading up to the swim, Marie-Helene balanced being a single mum to two boys with a busy job in NHS mental health services. But swimming also helped her unwind after long days of helping others.
“It helps me cope with life, with stress,” she said.
“The job can be quite difficult, but swimming does help me a lot.”
After training through the winter without a wetsuit in water reaching 5°C, Marie-Helene was “pleasantly surprised” when she entered Jersey’s 18°C water.
Despite feeling “nervous” before the swim, she said members of the Jersey Long Distance Swimming Club had gone over a map of the island with her.
Currents pushed her on at Le Rocq, but going around Gorey felt like “ages”.
Marie-Helene said she enjoyed the swell, despite it being “hard work” around Grosnez.
Reaching Corbière felt “really special”, she added.
She completed the 34-mile swim in 10 hours and 55 minutes.
Marie-Helene joked that she is “grumpy” when she doesn’t swim.
“I’m not a driven person, I don’t need to achieve, but I do need to be in the water,” she said.
“It clears my head. My head is often very busy, I have to cope with other people’s problems, listen to trauma – sometimes, it can feel overwhelming.
“The water really calms me down. It’s quiet, it helps me regulate my emotions and my mind.”