On Tuesday 28 May and Wednesday 29 May 2024, the RAN Families, Communities & Social Care Working Group convenes its last meeting in Lisbon (Portugal) to discuss the topic of ‘Trust-building and the context of the P/CVE Practitioner’.
We are presently looking for practitioners working with radicalised individuals or those vulnerable to radicalisation and the people close to them, such as social workers, family support practitioners and youth workers in the field of P/CVE.
Practitioners and initiatives we are looking for are:
- P/CVE practitioners working with radicalised individuals and their families, mainly involved in:
- social work
- family support
- youth work
- Practitioners working on trust building on the community level, for example:
- youth workers
- community police
- Those who work on the organisational level facilitating the support structures needed for practitioners to reflect on their own role in the trust-building process
Context and meeting objectives
For first-line practitioners in the field of P/CVE, a trustful relationship with the individuals they support has always been at the core of their efforts and activities. It is both a goal in itself and a means to carry out P/CVE strategies. Trust, however, is not a given, especially in a field where individuals might feel mistrusted and under surveillance by local and state authorities. The trust-building process has become more challenging while navigating times of global crises, economic hardship and polarisation fuelled by conspiracy narratives or disinformation, in which uncertainty prevails for a large number of people. This has led to a growing distrust towards institutions and those who represent them.
Participants in this meeting will therefore jointly dive into the world of ‘trust’. It has been reiterated during RAN meetings that this is one of the key pillars of the support provided by P/CVE first-line practitioners who work with radicalised individuals and their families (as well as any other work done by psychologists, social workers, counsellors). Factors that play an important role in this trust-building process are, for example, investing time, strategies for exploratory communication, and taking into account the perspective of the individual the practitioner works with (see here). For this last point, practitioners constantly need to self-reflect on their own biases, stay open-minded, be aware of the impact of their own world view and the perception of clients, and reflect on their role in the system/community they are working in/with. In turn, not reflecting about this could negatively impact the quality of the trust-building process.
The meeting objectives are to:
- Exchange views on the challenges in the working process of P/CVE practitioners that can affect the trust-building process with the individuals they work with and their families.
- Exchange views on inspiring trust-building approaches.
- Explore how practitioners can reflect on their own perspectives and their unconscious biases and prejudices towards the people they work with.
- Discuss the supporting structures within organisations that can create a stable foundation for practitioners to enable a trust-building process.
The deliverable will be a conclusion paper with inspiring examples to create a stable foundation for practitioners to build trust.
In order to find the best suited participants, we would like to ask you to answer the following questions:
- Do you work in the field of P/CVE? Please elaborate on the type of work you are doing.
- What challenges do you encounter in the trust-building process that you would like to exchange on during the meeting?
- Do you specifically reflect on the role of your own worldview and possible unconscious biases due to your own context? If yes, please elaborate on how you do this.
- How do you build trust? What are the approaches/methods/practices you use? Please elaborate.
- Would you like to present something to the other participants during the meeting? (For example, a specific trust-building approach, a challenging case, or ways in which practitioners can reflect on their own role). If yes, please elaborate.
How to register
If you are interested in attending this meeting, please register here and answer the questions. We will invite participants based on this information. Please keep in mind that we only have a limited number of places available for this meeting to foster exchanges, so participation is not guaranteed.
Please note that the meeting will be held in English.
If you have any further questions, please don´t hesitate to contact Maarten Briedé, Mirjam Konings or Fenna Keijzer.
