There has been much discussion in recent years about the relationship between the presence of mental health issues and disorders, including trauma and psychosis, and radicalisation. There is now an increasing understanding about the nexus between mental health and violent extremism, and the importance of mental health as a contributing or driving factor in radicalisation and recruitment. However, while there is greater awareness of the role of mental health in P/CVE, there is less awareness of, and discussion on the mental health impact of P/CVE work on practitioners. In this edition of the RAN Practitioners Update we therefore feature some of the latest RAN Practitioners products which take a look at the important issue of mental health, both of the need to support the mental health of practitioners and of the need to address mental health issues in P/CVE. This includes the latest RAN Reporters film, the latest RAN Practitioners webinar and the most recent RAN Practitioners paper on the topic.
Mental health
Presentation
Stevie Voogt, Director of People and Culture at Moonshot, who gave a keynote speech at the RAN Practitioners Plenary event in October 2023, discusses the importance of focussing on the mental health of P/CVE practitioners, ensuring that support is available to them practitioners and they know where to find it.
You can read about her speech in a conclusions paper here
Article
In an article for RAN Practitioners, Eva Jimenez, co-chair of the RAN Mental Health Working Group, talks about the importance of building the emotional resilience of mental health professionals, providing them with the support and training they need to avoid burnout and to do their work effectively.
You can read the article in full here
Project
In the latest episode of our ‘RAN Reporters’ series, we visit Sofia to meet Angela Antonova, co-chair of the RAN Practitioners Families, Communities & Social Care Working Group, to learn about the Green Help-line which provides mental health support and advice to practitioners working with refugees in Bulgaria.
Film
Two mental health professionals – Eva Jimenez, the co-chair of the RAN Mental Health Working Group, and Despoina Limniotaki, a social psychologist and Founder of The Healing Tree community for Mental Health – discuss the nexus between mental health and radicalisation and some of the current mental health challenges in P/CVE.
Paper
A recent paper summarises the main takeaways from the cross-cutting event on ‘Prevention of violent extremism: A shared responsibility between mental health care and the security domain’. The paper provides an analysis of the nexus between mental health issues and violent extremism, and an overview of main challenges hindering cooperation.
Webinar
The latest in a series of RAN Practitioners webinars discusses the need for multi-agency collaboration between mental health practitioners and security forces in P/CVE. The webinar shares the outcomes from a RAN Mental Health working group meeting, ‘Enhancing the cooperation between mental health practitioners and security forces in P/CVE’, and a cross-cutting event on the topic and provides an overview of some inspiring practices.
Upcoming events
Stay tuned to the Calendar page on the RAN Practitioners website for updates on meetings which will take place in 2024.
Projects
EMMA: An opportunity to scan your local multi-agency structure
We continue our series of featuring P/CVE projects funded by the EU. In this Update we focus on the EMMA project, which has assessed how to develop effective multi-agency structures.
Publications
Mentorship programmes and approaches in P/CVE
This paper provides an overview of mentorship as an approach within P/CVE. It describes some of the necessary aspects for practitioners to consider when developing a mentorship-based programme targeting (violent) extremists of various ideological orientations and affiliations. Some key pitfalls and challenges are also discussed.
The missing gender-dimension in risk assessment
This paper discusses the missing gender-dimension in risk assessment, particularly in relation to rehabilitation and reintegration measures. The paper assesses the existing gaps and defines the first steps for making risk assessment tools and instruments more gender sensitive.
The Dutch Multi-Agency Approach to Rehabilitation of Radicalised Detainees
This paper provides an overview of the approaches developed by the Dutch National Programme Against Radicalisation and Extremism (PARE) and its MAR programme - the Multi-Agency Approach to Rehabilitation of Radicalised Detainees (MAR), which focuses on the rehabilitation of VETOs and radicalised detainees.
Innovative evaluation approaches for secondary and tertiary prevention
This paper discusses the latest approaches deployed for the evaluation of P/CVE strategies in secondary and tertiary prevention. The paper summarises some available approaches and presents some possible obstacles and future challenges.
Evaluation of Family Support in P/CVE
This paper explores the challenges related to the evaluation of family support in P/CVE. The paper discusses a number of aspects of the evaluation process, including setting objectives, developing a theory of change and working with different stakeholders. The paper also provides some good practices and practical steps on where to start.
Empowering parents to make their children more emotionally resilient
This paper explores the role parents can have in making their children more emotionally resilient and how practitioners can empower parents in this regard. The paper also discusses the challenges that practitioners encounter and provides a review of some inspiring practices from across the EU that empower parents.
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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