Age: 16

As a child, Tom loved skating, camping and the outdoors. He was in the Cubs and the Beavers and spent a lot of his childhood in parks on bikes. He was a bit of a handful in class but as a child he wasn't difficult at home.

Tom was very happy at school with lots of friends. Then, as he reached his teens, he started drinking, smoking cannabis and doing other drugs on a daily basis. They began to rule his life.

As his school work began to suffer, so Tom would get more and more despondent. This, in turn would leave him wanting more drugs to blot out the anguish of his situation.

Tom would often disappear from home for days on drugs binges and on one occasion an angry drug dealer smashed down the front door of the family home looking for Tom. He was not remotely bothered by the way he was treating his mother or by the state of his life.

Having now graduated, Tom has been described by RedCliff clinical psychologist Dr Dan Sanderson as, 'not even physically the same boy that came out to Utah'.



Tom has resolved never again to touch drugs and, according to his mum, he has started behaving in a caring and loving way towards his younger sisters. Back at school, he is building a relationship with his father, who flew to Utah to surprise Tom for his graduation.

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	Tom's parents are divorced and he lives with his Mum, a psychiatric care worker, and his two sisters in Kidderminster. His mother would have a daily battle with Tom to get him to go to school as he was coming down from having taken drugs. Often he became violently angry and once pushed his mother in a rage, cracking one of her ribs. After the camp... Tom's mum, Sue: 'He doesn't stay out all night anymore…he's in bed by nine which is amazing!'

See also:
James, Fran, Rachael, Charlie, Tom, Dan