A woman who came back from the brink of suicide is urging others who are struggling not to give up hope – things do get better.

Danielle Lee, of Whitehaven, now runs a successful business and has found happiness in her personal life.

But 10 years ago her life began to spiral after her parents divorced and she went through a break-up. Danielle started taking drugs and her mental health suffered.

“Somebody offered [drugs] to me and I said: ‘why not?’ Then that made me feel good. I started doing it as often as I could and that deteriorated my mental health and put me in a place where I wanted to attempt to take my own life.

“I think it’s only the last two years that I’ve felt comfortable enough to talk about it. I don’t feel embarrassed about that any more.”

Now 28, Danielle owns Club 135 in Whitehaven with her business partner and friend, Mark, and is due to marry her fiancée, Shannon, at the end of the year.

“Even though stuff has happened I’ve managed to prevail by working hard. I’m a little bit of a workaholic. I don’t want to be a catalyst for somebody to think, ‘well why has Danielle achieved all that and I’ve got nothing’. Look, I’ve worked horrific hours, I’ve saved every penny I had, I’ve struggled with my mental health but now look at what I’ve got because I’ve persevered and pushed through it because things do get better.”

Danielle highlighted the negative impact that social media can have on young people’s mental health. “You see all these people posting good things about their lives thinking, ‘why can’t I achieve that?’ I was one of those people. You can see all your friends achieving and doing good things with their lives, and then there’s you struggling, and you can’t understand why.”

Danielle said she wouldn’t have got through such a difficult period in her life without the support of those around her. “It’s all those little things that you realise you owe so much to. God knows where I would be without all the people who have helped me along the way.”

Danielle said she was grateful to Nicki Huddart, who she lived with during this time, and her best friend Rebecca Long, for showing her that life is worth living. “When I was going through horrific periods, she would take me out on long drives and show me the mountains and the lakes and everything that was around us to show me that life is beautiful. And that really worked.”

Now Danielle is en-couraging others who are struggling with their mental health not to be afraid to talk to someone about their worries. “Be brave and speak to those close to you,” she says, “because they care more than you know. Don’t be embarrassed.”