Call for participants: RAN Victims/Survivors of Terrorism Working Group - Prevention of secondary traumatisation arising from P/CVE efforts, 21 November 2023

This meeting will take place online on 21 November 2023 from 9.00 to 12.30 CET.

We are looking for participants that are interested in joining the upcoming meeting of the RAN Victims/Survivors of Terrorism Working Group: ‘Prevention of secondary traumatisation arising from P/CVE efforts.’

Background and aim of the meeting

Involving victims/survivors of terrorism in preventing/countering violent extremism (P/CVE) work can be extremely valuable. Victims/survivors have directly experienced the consequences of a terror attack and are, thus, involuntarily experts on the devastating effects of terrorism and violent extremism. At the same time, victims/survivors represent a vulnerable group, and secondary victimisation is a documented occurrence that concerns several victims/survivors.

For practitioners working in P/CVE, it is paramount to ensure a safe environment for victims/survivors and treat their mental health as a priority to avoid retraumatising an already vulnerable group of people. Practitioners who wish to include victims/survivors in their P/CVE approaches might be hesitant to do so out of concern for potentially retraumatising the victim/survivor or otherwise harming their well-being.

This meeting will bring together victims/survivors and various types of practitioners who wish to involve them in their P/CVE work to understand how victims/survivors can be engaged in initiatives that possibly endanger their well-being and how the risks of secondary traumatisation can be better identified, prevented, and countered. The outcomes of the meeting will be compiled into a conclusion paper.

During the meeting, participants will share their experiences, good practices, and challenges in preventing and addressing secondary traumatisation arising from P/CVE efforts. The meeting will build on previous RAN meetings and papers, such as the Specialised Paper on ‘Testimonials: Involving victims/survivors of terrorism in P/CVE’ (2023), the VoT WG meeting on ‘Creating guidelines for involving victims/survivors in P/CVE’ (2022), and the VoT WG meeting on ‘Supporting the voices of young victims/survivors of terrorism’ (2021).

Target group

We are looking for the following types of participants:

• victims/survivors of terrorism;
• representatives of victim organisations;
• practitioners working with victims/survivors who wish to involve victims/survivors in their P/CVE efforts;
• mental health professionals.

Deadline and practical information

If you are interested in participating at this meeting, please fill out the form by clicking here. Please answer the questions and submit all relevant information by Monday 13 November at the latest.

We will invite participants based on this information. Keep in mind that we only have a limited number of places available for this meeting to foster in-depth exchanges, so participation is not guaranteed. Moreover, participants are required to attend the whole meeting.

The meeting will be held in English, and no interpretation will be available.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact m [dot] briederadaradvies [dot] nl (Maarten Briedé), f [dot] cantersradaradvies [dot] nl (Fenna Canters) or elena [dot] dalsantoviolence-prevention-network [dot] de (Elena Dal Santo).