PLEASE NOTE: We talk about sexual abuse in this episode which some viewers may find triggering.

Mark Stauffer is an experienced ghostwriter and copywriter with a passion for helping clients tell their stories authentically and powerfully. He specializes in preserving personal legacies, organizing complex life stories and crafting engaging narratives. He is also the writer of The Lost Boys of Dilworth, TVNZ, a prime time docu-drama, which recounts Mark's own experiences at the notorious New Zealand boarding school during the 1970s.

1. Could you please share some of your journey. What was the catalyst to writing The Lost Boys of Dilworth?
2. Areas to talk about:

• Mum saying, “If you really hate it, I promise you can come home.”
• Feeling terror at the school
• School: “most emotional experience I've ever had.”
• Dorm: constantly watched
• Cold/ A lot of crying – sobbing at night/ Dorm raid – beatings – becoming pretty fearful.
• Bullying ever present
• Like Lord of the Flies
• Punishments – cold baths in front of the teachers. - 16m
• Attempted suicide – no one's got your back – no one to go to 19m
• No where to escape from pain and violence
• It felt like a prison – island of hostility and violence - 20m
• French leave – running away – sat under a bridge
• 25m – spent a lot of time crying – sympathetic ears didn't exist
• Being sent to Coventry – no one is allowed to talk to you – a ghost – no one acknowledges you.
• Mrs Morgan – kind teacher - “If you couldn't control the children, there was something wrong with you.” “No kindness at the school.”
• Leave day – sense of dread
• Grooming – train tracks – praying together – coming out of tutors late at night
• 8 paedophiles at Dilworth – Mark sexually abused in the chapel – many boys raped – the doctor knew
• Disciplined for speaking up – telling lies
• School was a magnet for paedophiles
• 50m - Betrayal – Mum – no way out unless expelled
• 55m – Getting expelled age 14
• Friend committed suicide
• Consequences – drugs, alcohol, crime/ self-destruction/ never fixed relationship with mother

#lostboysofdilworth #dilworth #nzboardingschool #boardingschoolsyndrome

To connect to him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-staufer-7624b115/

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Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems.

He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man.

He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1

For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross

For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic

For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community

Many blessings,

Piers Cross

http://piers-cross.com/