Dear Coleen

I’M A 17-year-old lad who has always preferred being around older people and I don’t always get on well with people my own age.

In recent years, I have started becoming very attached to older women, who I guess are potentially mother figures to me.

It started when I developed a mad obsession with a famous actress about five years ago. I am now lucky enough to be friends with her (she is in her 50s).

I should emphasise that I have no romantic or sexual feelings towards any of these women – I just really admire them.

When I started fifth year, I was given a form tutor and as I got to know her better, she became such a help to me. She left the school at Christmas and I was heartbroken. I cried every night in the two weeks up to her leaving and over the Christmas period. Luckily, we kept in contact and I have seen her again a couple of times.

She has a close friend, who also happens to be my current teacher. This teacher asked me to help her with her wedding because she knows I’m very creative. We ended up becoming good friends and texting each other, which I realise she could get into trouble for if her bosses felt it was inappropriate.

She invited me to her wedding, which was a few weeks ago, and it was absolutely amazing.

And she came up to me several times throughout the day to tell me how grateful she was for my help and to say that when I leave school next year, we’ll be able to stay in touch and be proper friends.

I know this isn’t normal – I don’t know anyone else who gets this attached.

I’m always thinking of when I’ll see these women next and my teachers have become my best friends, even though they’re both in their 40s.

Can you help?