Nine trekkers will prove that there ain't no mountain high enough in their quest to raise money for an Oxfordshire mental health charity.

The intrepid bunch will raise thousands of pounds for Oxfordshire Mind when they scale the Sierra Nevada mountain range in southern Spain.

Many of the volunteers are making the trek because the charity - which runs support groups and crisis helplines - has helped a friend or family member. Some have been personally affected by mental health issues.

Oxfordshire Mind needs to raise £50,000 every year to sustain and develop its services. It runs support groups, therapeutic groups and works in partnership with six supported housing projects.

The charity is funded through individual donations, charitable trusts, Oxfordshire County Council and the Oxfordshire Primary Care Trusts.

Each trekker must raise £1,200 in sponsorship.

One of the them is 19-year-old Stacie Duffy, who suffered depression when her grandmother died.

She said: "I had never heard of Oxfordshire Mind before my colleague told me about them and I want to raise awareness of the charity.

"I was very close to my grandmother and her death hit me and my mum quite hard. Then my mum left my dad.

"I'm an only child so we were a close knit family. My dad suffered from depression.

"All this happened when I was 15 or 16. I started smoking, drinking and I needed to have anger management."

Stacie - a manager at Apex Motor Factors in Witney - persuaded her colleagues to dress up in Halloween costumes to raise money for the charity. To make a donation to her trek fund, email monkey_girl1919@hotmail.com Anna Dembinska, a 48-year-old from Cogges, near Witney, is also heading to the mountains.

She said: "I know a couple of people who have mental health problems.

"I thought it would be a good opportunity to raise funds for the really good services that Mind provides.

"It is also a really good challenge for myself."

Ms Dembinska - who is studying horticulture - is working as a gardener for £12 an hour as part of her fundraising. To donate money to her mountain trek fund go to www.justgiving.com/dembinska Nicky Clargo, of Oxfordshire Mind, said: "We help a wide variety of people.

"It's not just about helping people who have been in hospital it's about preventing people becoming that bad and getting them better before they go down that road."