InsideOut Online Accreditation Programme_Examiniation_November2013/Proof-reading From soap to hope It’s a tragic story which could have come straight from BBC soap EastEnders. A teenage is attacked by a gang in the street and stabbed to death and his sister goes on to become a knife expert, a Government advisor and extremely knowledgeable about communicating to the disengaged – gang members and teenagers. The story is true and the soap star sister will be addressing delegates at IoIC’s annual conference in Bristol in May. She tells InsideOut what to expect but admits: “It’s really easy to communicate when you’ve got a script and you’re playing somebody else, but standing up and being Brooke Kinsella is something I’ve had to get used to…”

EastEnders actress will tell IoIC conference about communicating with the disengaged 6

When Brooke Kinsella’s teenage brother was stabbed to death in the street, the last thing on her mind was becoming a great communicator. “I just wanted to get into bed and never get out again,” confesses the actress best known for her role as Kelly Taylor in the BBC soap EastEnders. Her 16-year-old brother Ben died after a a random attack by a gang of three youths on June 29, 2008. He was the 17th teenager killed in the capital that year. Since then Brook has led an anti-knife crime campaign that started with a march through London and continued by setting up the Ben Kinsella Trust. The trust runs a website (www.benkinsella. Org.uk), has set up various initiatives including live drama by young actors, a bike ride, teachiing materials for schools and a knife crime awareness exhibition which will tour the country. It is currently at Millwall FC in London and has been visited by more than 2,000 children, most of whom have signed the ‘I Am Me’ pledge, promising not to carry a knife. Brooke has also written a book, Why Ben?, become an adviser on knife crime to the Government and been awarded the MBE for her work in this field. She admits that knife crime will never be completely stamped out but she believes her work – and the trust’s influence – are having an effect, even though she never really wanted to get involved with campaign. “I’d give anything to not be here doing it, but it’s something I have to do now,” she says. “I’m an actress, I’ve been acting since I was seven, it’s all I’ve ever done. So, if you’d told me five years ago I’d be talking to David Camerone, walking into Number 10 and getting an MBE from Prince Charles, I’d have said you were crazy.” However, her work meeting with teenagers and gang members around the world means she has plenty of knowledge to pass on about communicating with a disengaged audience. Brook will be the keynote speaker at thisyear’s IoIC conference in Bristol, passing on what she’s learned on her journey from soap actor to respected campaigner. “I’ve been asked to discuss how I communicate to disengaged people,” she explains. “My target audience is is youth and people that maybe are the perpetrators of knife crime or are on the edge of it, so they’re not the easiest people to communicate with. “I’ll talk about my journey - including my brother’s death and how it affected me and my family - how I fell into this world and how I’ve managed to make changes.” Brook admits that the last thing she wanted to do after Ben’s murder was get involved in public life – but she knew something had to change. “Hundreds of people before me have been doing this – and probably better than me – but the reason I started campaigning was because of the general public, she says. “The nation took Ben to there hearts and they were the ones saying ‘How has this been allowed to happen?’ I thought if there are strangers out there standing up for Ben, then surely I can do something. “I’m not deluded enough to think we’re going to stop knif crime completely but I do think we can make a difference.” But the 29-yearold, who was in EastEnder for nearly four years, faced an uphill task and decided the best way to communicate was to start by listening. “Literally I had no idea what I I was doing and I never pretended I knew,” she confesses. “But that’s one of the things that’s helped me relate to people, whether it be the Prime Minster or a murderer. “I walked into one of the toughest prisons in America and talked to someone who had killed three gang member, I went to Liverpool to talk to gang members who carried knives. “I try my hardest not to judge people, which is hard when I realise I’m speaking to people who have done to someone’s brother what someone else did to mine. “But I don’t preach or judge people because I feel I’ll learn something from speaking with them. “Also, when young people are from speaking with them. faced with police officers or teachers, they’re never going to communicate, but most of the time they just want to talk, and there are so many people out there who can tell grown-ups how to make change. “I started by learning as much as I could about knife crime.” The Ben Kinsella Trust has since stepped up it’s campaign to reduce knife crime by raising awareness through TV appearances interviews, live drama, providing teaching materials for schools, and particularly the exhibition which opened in September last year and will tour the country. “The exhibition is basically about prevention because prevention InsideOut Online is better than cure,” explains Brooke. “The theme is choices and consequences – the choices you make and the consequences they can bring. “There are six rooms including a recreated prison cell and the kids can be locked in to get a feeling of what prison is like. “It also focuses on Ben’s story, they’ll find out he was a normal boy just like them.” InsideOut Online