Grace Tame details how her mother threatened to turn her into police after tracking the troubled teen down in California with a car full of drugs: 'She came and rescued me'

Activist Grace Tame has shared how she escaped to California after having a breakdown in the aftermath of suffering sexual abuse at the hands of her teacher. 

Just 18 at the time, the teenager struggled to cope and landed herself in 'dodgy situations,' she told the Cracking On podcast this week. 

Tame's former schoolteacher, Nicolaas Ockert Bester, was jailed in 2011 for sexually abusing her when she was a 15-year-old student at a private school in Hobart, Tasmania. 

The following year, a traumatised Tame left Australia for America, where she bought a beat-up car and drove up the California coast, finding work at a marijuana farm and abusing drugs. 

'I moved to the United States when I was 18, as soon as I could leave home essentially. I was still sort of managing this trauma which was very new at the time,' Tame, 31, said.

'I kind of fell apart again. I did lots of rogue things. I worked on a weed farm. I got involved in some pretty dodgy situations,' she continued. 

'I had all my belongings in my car that I bought for 1500 bucks in a parking lot. It was probably not roadworthy. 

'I remember just driving up the California coastline, sleeping wherever I could find a bed.'

Tame's mother, Penny, became alarmed when her daughter cut contact, and boarded a flight to the USA to rescue her - after threatening to turn Grace into California police over the drugs she was carrying. 

'I had stopped talking to my family and my mother had that parental intuition kicking in. She actually came and rescued me,' Grace explained. 

'After a very dramatic yelling match at a petrol station, mum decided that she wouldn't turn me into the local police after finding my stash of substances.'

Penny helped Grace find a job and somewhere permanent to live.  

'She should've been Australian of the Year (herself). She's far more articulate than I am and she probably wouldn't have upset the government that much,' Grace joked. 

Tame previously revealed how she fell victim to substance abuse and self-harm in the aftermath of her childhood abuse.  

'Even after it's over, the effects of the abuse don't just stop. It impacts your entire life going forward, and predators know that,' she told the ACCE. 

'I went on to abuse drugs, prescription and illegal, I drank, I cut myself, I covered myself in piercings, I dressed like someone I wasn't,' she continued.

'I found myself in violent relationships and in relationships where I was again abused by older men who knew that I had been abused. 

'But I have built from this, I take each day as it comes, but I am using my past trauma to educate people and shed more light.'

Tame has gone on to become an outspoken advocate for survivors of sexual assault and was named as the 2021 Australian of the Year.

If you or anyone you know needs immediate support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or via lifeline.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.

If you, or someone you know would like to talk to someone confidentially about addiction, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit Reach Out. In an emergency, call 000.