My name is Dilan and I’m a student from Doncaster. Here is my story…
I heard about The Youth Association through a friend, who told me about the work they had been doing with them. The group were in the process of creating and starring in a short film around county lines.
I approached the Youth Workers, as I was excited to see what we could create and what else was on offer. The Youth Workers were good with us, they were professionals that listened to us and the issues we were facing in our community.
After meeting with The Youth Association a few times, we took part in different StreetSafe workshops. In the county lines workshop, we watched an educational film and picked out some facts about real life situations that would help with our film. During discussions, we spoke about why young people get caught up in county lines and what signs to look out for. We also had a drug awareness session that really opened my eyes to the dangers of drugs, what they do to you and the effects of taking drugs; this was a life changing session for me. I am glad I took part in these sessions, and it gave us ideas to plan for our short film. Working with Youth Workers while planning for the film, I learned to be open minded, punctual, and how to get everyone ready to film.
While recording for the county lines film, we learnt there is more to life than we know which was great for us. It opened opportunities for me, and I learned how to use some of the equipment for filming, including the drone that I’d never seen or had experience with. Throughout the time we recorded, we built a positive relationship with the Youth Workers, who allowed us to express ourselves and plan the whole film with their guidance.
We struggled getting everyone there on time for filming, due to college, family engagements and the weather. However, The Youth Association were flexible, understanding and organised during the filming and the sessions. After this county lines film, I would love to get into filming and production, as one of the Youth Workers said I smashed it in organising everyone and was always pushing and wanting to be involved in the production. It’s something I would like to get into.
“Before working with The Youth Association, I was already in college and had a part time job but if I didn’t meet these guys, I probably wouldn’t be happy as I am. I got the chance to plan for a county lines film, get my friends from college involved and take part in a few workshops, especially the drugs workshop that helped me see that drugs were not worth it.”