To celebrate 'Mental awareness week'
Tom Sharplin, well known entertainer has joined the Phobic Trust to head a Fundraising-Marketing division.
Tom Sharplin is as kiwi as roast lamb and has been in the New Zealand entertainment industry for over 35 years. He is
one of New Zealand's foremost entertainers whose popularity has endured over several decades.
His personal life has had many twists, turns and tragedies, but he keeps on singing and delighting the crowds. Over the
years he has done endless work for charities, from fund-raising concerts to Telethons. Tom has been a regular supporter
of the Variety Club of New Zealand since it was founded in 1990.
He lost his leg in a tractor accident when he was a child of 6 years. Throughout his life he has been helping and
encouraging disable people.
His singing career has given him the opportunity to travel the USA, Pacific islands, Singapore, Penang, Australia and
more recently Papua New Guinea.
"I'm becoming more and more aware of the importance of anxiety associated problems, with the demands and costs it puts
on our society. As awareness grows so does the need for more treatment and information. The problem is growing and so is
the need for more treatment and information.
The Phobic Trust of NZ has been working with anxiety, phobic and compulsive disorders co-morbid with depression and
other illnesses/disorders for 20 years. Young people with the disorder are a special interest of mine and in the future
we will target the early and formative stages of the disorders and therefore prevent them becoming chronic".