County Lines, Signs of Grooming, Drug & Knife Crime, Unconscious Bias, Safeguarding
Key Impact & Outcomes:
Our County Lines & Keeping Young People Safe workshop is a hard-hitting and powerful film screening and facilitated panel discussion and Q&A with some of our young people, centred around ‘gang culture’ and county lines. We’ll also explore themes of unconscious bias and the assumptions we can make about each other, and the ways very different lives can intertwine. Through an entertaining and thought-provoking original film, ‘Dickheads Matter’ and an in-depth panel discussion our young people who have lived experience and invaluable insight to share about these issues, The Big House leads its audience into the emotive and real-life stories of young people who are talked about but often go unheard.
This workshop provides the opportunity for young people attending the workshop to gain a better understanding of how to keep themselves safe, how to spot the signs of grooming and leave with more clarity, context and places to seek advice and support if they find themselves in a similar situation. It also aims to amplify the need to look at issues like gang violence as part of our wider society and understand that it isn’t an isolated issue, but something we’re living parallel to every day.
The production was spellbinding, it affected everyone so deeply that we still talk about it; it showed how theatre can teach and move people in ways that other training can’t. I think everyone who saw it will always remember it and they will also remember the conversation with the young actors afterwards – they were open and generous in speaking about their own lives and the challenges they had faced. It touched us viscerally – not only in the traumatic events that many had experienced but also in the hope that things can change for the better.
