CYNTHIA chats with ROBBIE KINLOCK

It is always a rare privilege for me to work with an adolescent who is keen to become a better version of themselves.  Robbie is one of these impressive human beings.  I met him when he was just 19 years of age.  He’d been experimenting with party drugs since his early teens, was unemployed, uninterested in study, a heavy daily marijuana smoker, a nocturnal gamer who had major sleeping issues, and he also struggled with anxiety, depression and suicidal episodes. Teenage risk-taking behaviour and high anxiety are components of most adolescent’s rite of passage as they make their way from childhood into young adulthood.  They are character building years, that’s for damned sure, for both parents and teenagers.  My sons are now in their 30’s but I remember all too well the challenges we faced through these years.Robbie however, is now totally abstinent from his drug usage, and has been for almost 9 months.   His gaming is now more of a hobby than an obsession having raised money for charity through his gaming for others struggling with depression.   Now that he’s employed Robbie’s saving for an upcoming overseas adventure.  In this conversation Robbie generously shares about his emotional hurdles and his hard-earned personal successes.  I have been honoured to have a front row seat throughout the past few years of his emotional recovery.  Watching him heal, learn and smile with self-respect has at times bought me to gentle tears of joy.  He has been so brave in facing the necessity to be rigorously honest with himself.  This young man in my opinion, is nothing short of inspirational offering hope and healing to anyone who has become lost in a haze of marijuana, on-line gaming and party pills.  In a nutshell, he’s a bloody legend