Methods of Intervention
Key message
Understanding appropriate intervention strategies for young people who are drawn to radicalisation is key to reaching these young people and designing relevent exit strategies for them. This exercise will engage young people in discussing intervention approaches for young people showing signs of radical behaviour.
Key words: identifying exit strategies for radicalisation, understanding radicalisation
Summary
To explore the various types of intervention initiatives and debate the effectiveness of these approaches. To acknowledge that there can and will be barriers and limitations in helping those involved in radical activity.
LessKey message
Understanding appropriate intervention strategies for young people who are drawn to radicalisation is key to reaching these young people and designing relevent exit strategies for them. This exercise will engage young people in discussing intervention approaches for young people showing signs of radical behaviour.
Key words: identifying exit strategies for radicalisation, understanding radicalisation
Summary
To explore the various types of intervention initiatives and debate the effectiveness of these approaches. To acknowledge that there can and will be barriers and limitations in helping those involved in radical activity.
Key message
Understanding appropriate intervention strategies for young people who are drawn to radicalisation is key to reaching these young people and designing relevent exit strategies for them. This exercise will engage young people in discussing intervention approaches for young people showing signs of radical behaviour.
Key words: identifying exit strategies for radicalisation, understanding radicalisation
Summary
To explore the various types of intervention initiatives and debate the effectiveness of these approaches. To acknowledge that there can and will be barriers and limitations in helping those involved in radical activity.
- Module
- Intervention
- Duration
- 1 hour
- Group size
- medium
- large
- Group age
- 12 - 15
- 16 - 19
- 20 - 24
Exercise Category: Activities / Exercises
CC - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Purpose
- To explore the issues that may emerge when young people get involved in radical behaviour and identify any supports that they may require to transition out of it
- To discuss which actions are most appropriate
- To debate the pros and cons of each approach particularly any that might be considered controversial
- To anticipate worst case scenarios to enable participants plan appropriate responses and look at different coping strategies
Participants
Suitable for use with a wide variety of groups but may be most relevant to teenagers and young adults; non-gender specific.
Description
Step 1: The participants are split into working groups of three and asked to create a specific scenario involving a young person who is getting involved in the radicalisation scene. They are to say a little bit about the person’s level of involvement and give a brief insight into the type of person concerned. What happened to lead them to this position, what were the motivating factors? And what is potentially going to happen next?
Their thoughts are captured on flipchart.
Step 2: Having completed the first piece, each group then gives the flipchart where they have written up their scenario to the group beside them. This second group is then tasked with coming up with possible responses and effective ways of intervening in the story they have just been presented with. All groups will therefore be working on a scenario that they did not compile and therefore are not familiar with.
Step 3: After each group has come up with some potential responses these are fed back to the main group where participants discuss what approaches have the greatest chance of success and what interventions were less likely to have a positive outcome.
Step 4: Having heard back from all of the groups on their chosen methods of intervention the facilitator asks participants what are the current trends that are emerging in relation to youth radicalisation. What are the different approaches currently being adopted by professional agencies to prevent and discourage young people from getting involved in such activity?
Materials needed
Flipchart sheets, Markers
Methodology
Small group discussions, Large group discussions, Cartwheel technique (passing the flipcharts around the groups)
Advice for Trainer
Questions for discussion:
- What do you think are the measures currently available to prevent people from becoming drawn into terrorism and how do we challenge the extremist ideology that can be associated with it?
- How effective do you think the different approaches adopted to prevent radicalisation amongst young people are?
- How do the professional interventions compare or contrast with the ones the group came up with earlier?
- Are the professional bodies missing anything important in their approach to this issue?
- Who are the people/organisations best placed to respond to issues of this nature?
Source / Literature
Original material developed for the purpose of the YCARe project.