Some of the young people TACT care for in Yorkshire recently had the pleasure of attending a residential with Tim Haigh, a motivational speaker who aims to transform lives through lived experiences.

Residential trips are just one of the brilliant opportunities available to young people cared for by TACT foster carers.  Young people get the chance to experience things completely different to anything they may have done before, as well as having the opportunity to meet new people and find support or inspiration in new ways.

Lived Experience Speakers

Tim has an incredible story of transformation that many would say is impossible.  He knows firsthand the devastating impact that drugs, gangs, criminality, and knife crime can have – not just on an individual, but on families and entire communities.

Growing up in an environment of poverty, neglect and domestic violence, Tim found himself trapped in a cycle of crime from an early age, having his first run in with the police at just 10 years old. On his 17^th birthday, he was sent to prison for a total of 9 years 9 months. Upon release, the spiral continued – gang affiliation, drug dealing, county lines and a heroin addiction that consumed his life. At his lowest point, he was injecting up to ten times a day.

But in 1998, Tim made a life changing decision. He went to rehab, broke free from addiction, and began rebuilding his life. He launched Lived Experience Speakers in 2024 after nearly 20 years of voluntary work with vulnerable adults and young people. Today, he is on a mission to educate and empower young people across the UK, and show that no matter what you have been through as a young person, you can still choose to live a purposeful life and become successful. 

Support For Young People

One of the sessions that Tim hosted with our young people was called ‘Dare to Dream’ – a workshop that focuses on the young people. This session empowers children to dream and think about what they want their future to look like and it also enables staff to gain understanding of the child’s aspirations, so they in turn can help them get the tools they need to achieve these dreams. 

Our young people had the opportunity at the end of the session to share their dreams with each other, which creates great peer support and fosters empathy within the group as well as accountability. One of the great things about this session was that it gave our staff discussion points to continue the conversations in the child’s everyday life. Our young people wrote a letter to their future self of the dreams they have and the plan to get there.

Another session in the day looked at Drugs & County Lines – where Tim used his experiences to talk about county lines and gang expectations. The session raised  awareness of how young people are groomed, what to look out for, what makes young people vulnerable and how to get help. 

Following this, Tim hosted a Q&A in which our young people had lots of questions for Tim about his life and experiences. Tim used a piece of paper to demonstrate his life which started off as a screwed-up piece of paper which he transformed into a soaring bird. Tim spent some time with the boys after the workshops showing them how to make the origami bird out of a sheet of paper.

A huge thank you to Tim & Donna for coming to spend the afternoon with us, the feedback from the boys has been amazing & they enjoyed the chocolate and crisps they brought for them! We are looking forward to working with Tim & Lived Experience Speakers again in the future!