People Profile – Peter Higgs

I ended up travelling up to London with my mum to have a meeting with a specialist about my Tourette’s. I remember that the specialist was busy when we arrived and we ended up waiting for four hours. On the third hour, I stormed in – kicked the door open – and yelled “When are you gonna start seeing us? We’ve been sat here for ages and I’ve had enough!”

Turns out she was in a very official, important board meeting with several other doctors and she was quite peeved that I’d burst in like that, telling my mum to “control your child!”

They prescribed Diazepam which I started taking. On the first morning I had a severe reaction to it and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance for treatment.

I was then put on medication that would work well under supervision while I was in care, and placed in a children’s home in Bognor Regis for about six months.  I ended up getting involved with the older children there who encouraged me to steal cars and take drugs with them, so I was transferred to one-to-one care.

When that didn’t work out, I briefly stayed at another boarding school before I was placed in foster care up near Kingston. I remember my mum coming to see me at weekends to pray for me which I found comforting at the time. I hadn’t really found Jesus at that point, and was a pretty difficult child when I was taken to church – I remember cutting seats up at the back, with a pen knife.
I was sent to another children’s home and then to a boarding school before being put back into one-to-one care. By this point I was fed up. I had been through about 10 -13 different places and was then told I would be moved again. I just climbed up a telegraph pole and threatened to jump into the wires. I had a good view of birdworld so I said “Go away, I’m staying here. I’m happy here”.

When they finally got me down, I was taken straight to a high security building for troubled youths – where they took my jackdaw away. I couldn’t even walk out of my own room without a key card and I had to be let out to go to the toilet. I remember being in there when the twin towers went down on September 11th and they let us watch the news unfold on the TV. There were mainly girls in there and I was pretty much the only guy so it was quite lonely.

When they realised I wasn’t suicidal, I was allowed to move on to Stepping Stones – which is a rehabilitation home for children. I was at the point of despair and I had started wondering what life was really about when my mum gave me a children’s bible to read. There’s not much to do when you’re locked in your room all day so I started reading about the miracles that Jesus performed. I was inspired to reach out and pray “if you are there, and you’re real and willing, please change my life – and I promise I’ll live my life in a way to please you.”

I was in the home for at least a year before I was released and came off my medication. I honestly don’t believe it was medication that helped me keep calm as much as the physical activity, and not eating so many sweets! I think people underestimate the effect what you put in your body has on your mental state.

By the time I was released, all my peers were finishing their GCSE’s at the time, so I went back to Mr Butler who gave me a job helping out as a farm hand for about £35 a day.