From the COVID-19 pandemic to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the energy crisis, spiralling living costs, soaring heatwaves and environmental disasters, it might appear that we live in a continual state of crisis – all of which has had an impact on people’s mental health, exacerbating underlying concerns, fears, anxieties and anger. The nexus between mental health and violent extremism, and the importance of mental health as a contributing or driving factor in radicalisation and recruitment, is now increasingly being understood. In this edition of the RAN Practitioners Update we take a brief look at some of these challenges. To do this, the Update features the latest issue of the RAN Practitioners Spotlight magazine and the latest RAN Practitioners film, and highlights some of the key publications on the topic. The Update also features information on four training events on ‘digital skills’ for practitioners.
Mental health
Spotlight
The latest issue of the RAN Practitioners Spotlight magazine takes a look at the nature of the relationship between mental health and radicalisation. The magazine explores some of the mental health issues that can lead to radicalisation, including personality disorders and childhood experiences, and discusses gender issues, training for practitioners and ethical considerations.
Film
The latest RAN Practitioners film looks at the current challenges surrounding mental health and radicalisation. To do this, Kelsey Bjornsgaard, from the RAN YOUNG platform, hosts a discussion between Eva Jimenez, co-lead of the RAN Working Group on mental health, and Despoina Limniotaki, founder of The Healing Tree community for Mental Health.
Paper
A recent paper, published by RAN Practitioners at the end of 2022, entitled ‘Personality disorders and mental illnesses with implications in PVE’, discusses the underlying dynamics of specific personality disorders and susceptibility to radicalisation leading to violent extremism. Particular attention is paid to the mechanisms and underlying dynamics of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD).
Spotlight
A RAN Practitioners Spotlight magazine, published in the summer of 2020, explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenge of mental health vulnerabilities in prisons.
The magazine also looked at more nuanced forms of mental health P/CVE work involving ADHD and autism clients, and examined how practitioners can handle sensitive conversations.
Training
Digital skills for first-line practitioners in P/CVE
RAN Practitioners will be delivering a series of training events in four locations across Europe, in October and November 2023, for practitioners who want to ‘get online’. The training on ‘digital skills’ will give participants the opportunity to learn about the latest digital technologies and innovations (such as AI), to learn how to use a range of digital platforms and social media channels, and examine ways of adopting such technologies and platforms (for P/CVE).
Survey
We would like to ask members of the RAN Practitioners network to help us to identify a wide range of current EU-funded projects which address many different aspects of P/CVE. The goal of this survey is to identify, select and disseminate project insights, outputs and results – including relevant studies, reports, tools and methodologies – among the network and beyond. Selected projects will be showcased in future editions of the RAN Practitioners Update.
RAN Collection
We are looking for members of the RAN expert pool to review a number of practices from the RAN Collection of Inspiring Practices – a valuable source of information and inspiration for practitioners, policymakers and researchers. The purpose of the ‘expert peer review’ is to provide advice to practice owners on how to improve the quality and impact of their projects, and to raise awareness about the need to evaluate P/CVE interventions.
Upcoming Events
Stay tuned to the Calendar page on the RAN Practitioners website for more updates on meetings which will take place in 2023.
Publications
Toolkit on dealing with conspiracy narratives
A RAN Practitioners toolkit provides practitioners with practical insights and suggestions on how to potentially work with a person who believes in conspiracy narratives. The aim of this toolkit is to explain what a conspiracy narrative exactly is, what a conspiracy narrative may offer to someone and how to help them reconsider their beliefs.
Information exchange between the 4 Ps – police, prosecution, prison and probation – in the prison management and reintegration of VETOs
A RAN PRISONS paper explores the various tools, methods and experiences related to information exchange between the 4 Ps: police, prosecution, prison and probation. The paper provides an overview of the key tools and methods which are being used, the preconditions for the implementation of good information exchange practices and recommendations for successful collaborations.
Assessing P/CVE Projects: Peer Learning and Exchange
A RAN YOUNG paper provides recommendations for the organisation of peer-to-peer exchange in P/CVE. The paper also summarises the feedback and recommendations provided by practitioners from within the RAN YOUNG network for how to improve a number of P/CVE projects and incorporate a youth perspective.
Contact us
RAN Practitioners is implemented by RadarEurope, which is a subsidiary of the RadarGroup:
- Phone: +31 (0)20 468 06 08 (office)
- E-Mail: ran
radareurope [dot] nl (ran[at]radareurope[dot]nl)
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