Exit work combining social space orientation and attachment theory

JUMP is an institution of the Christliches Jugenddorfwerk (CJD) e.V. (NGO). The CJD is a Germany-wide agency for child and youth welfare services and educational institutions.

JUMP is financed by the German government programme 'Demokratie leben!' (Live democracy!) via the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Type of Organisation: Other

JUMP supports staff working in social spaces (particularly practitioners and educators) to engage with a particular subset of young people vulnerable to radicalisation and violent extremism. The project enhances staff sensitivity to the needs and challenges of those far-right extremists and young sympathisers of similar ideologies showing potential to withdraw from this scene and become formers.

Termed 'education and counselling', this support takes the form of individual and group counselling as well as interactive, practice-oriented workshops for different target groups (e.g. educators, social workers, job centre staff and education students). Staff are trained to observe and monitor potential formers, cause constructive irritation and foster situations that will promote clients to 'jump' voluntarily. During the exit process, these 'signal generators' within social spaces can be used to facilitate resolution of particular social work issues (e.g. employment, substance abuse and debt).

In addition, JUMP supports staff struggling or unable to reach young people (especially pupils) who are increasingly vulnerable to far-right or violent extremist influence. By contacting these young people, JUMP can react (with educational intervention, not repression) as soon as young people show signs of (potential) radicalisation, before they actually 'enter the scene'. But even after this has happened, the project supports young people by reminding them that this is not a point of no return and that a concrete, dependable alternative exists. Long term, the project aims to enable professionals to intervene in such situations with assurance.

But JUMP mainly offers 'exit assistance' for far-right extremists and young people supporting such ideologies (sympathisers, fellow travellers, activists) who are willing to leave the scene and the surrounding field.

This involves gaining social security (especially in terms of housing, qualifications and employment) and forming an outlook for the future. Another aspect is reflection on the experiences (of hate, violence and crime, but also of comradeship and appreciation) inside and outside the scene. This is supported by methods based on the work of Lawrence Kohlberg (e.g. a 'scale of self-positioning', and confrontation with and reflection on moral dilemmas). Other elements include identifying and handling 'trigger mechanisms' (words, situations, music) and developing sustainable courses of action to avoid relapses into mindsets and acts characteristic of the far-right extremist scene.

By reinforcing and advancing staff reactions to (de-)radicalisation, reaching young people before they enter the scene and offering exit assistance to those willing to leave the scene, JUMP aims to counter radicalisation (physically and mentally) and to shape a professional local environment that exerts a preventive influence with a long-term perspective.

Thanks to recent developments, attachment theory offers an additional dimension (attachment-led interventions and attachment-based counselling) that reveals how insecure attachment patterns underlie cognitive and ideological explanations and justifications. The approach is sustainable: through the assistance offered by JUMP (e.g. through priming, symbolic interaction, a high degree of security (as part of a civil society offer), stress regulation and transformation with a positive conclusion to each session) to come closer to a secure attachment, to increase sensitivity and to impart knowledge on how attachment intervenes in educational processes. In this way, the intergenerational transmission of insecure bonds can be interrupted, so that radicalisation of the next generation is not necessary. This allows us to look at people more holistically and combine a social space-oriented perspective with a developmental psychological perspective.

• Article in the brochure ‘Ausstiegsperspektiven. Aspekte der Tertiärprävention im Kontext extreme Rechte’ of the Federal Working Group (BAG) 'Ausstieg zum Einstieg' ('Exit for getting started'), including JUMP

• Due for publication in November 2019: 'Abgelegt. Abgereist. Ausgestiegen. Perspektiven der Ausstiegsarbeit rechts'. 10 Jahre JUMP – Ausstiegsarbeit in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. An anthology of articles ('Abandoned. Departed. Exited. Perspectives of Exit-work. 10 years JUMP Exit work in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.').

• Guiding material for the biography of a former member of the extreme right 'Timo F.: Neonazi'.

• Comprehensive brochure 'TunnelLichtBlicke', providing insight into the work of members of the Federal Working Group (BAG) 'Ausstieg zum Einstieg' ('Exit for getting started'), including JUMP.

• Quality standards of the Federal Working Group (BAG) 'Ausstieg zum Einstieg'.

• Training concepts and modules for different target groups.

• Article in the handbook 'Verantwortlich Handeln: Praxis der Sozialen Arbeit mit rechtsextrem orientierten und gefährdeten Jugendlichen' ('Acting responsibly: Practice of the Social Work with right-wing extremistic-orientated and endangered juveniles').

• Article in the publication 'Rechts oben II – Demokratie und Rechtsextremismus in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern' (Top right 2 — Democracy and right-wing extremism in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern').

Address

JUMP
CJD Nord
Am Kanal 1
17166 Dahmen
Germany

Contact person: Samuel von Frommannshausen
Telephone: (+49) 39933 739 820
samuel [dot] vonfrommannshausecjd [dot] de (Email) | Website