RAN EXIT Academy: Exit worker engagement techniques in discussion Silvia Bernardo April 26, 2018

RAN EXIT Academy: Exit worker engagement techniques in discussion

IPS_Innovative Prisons Systems representatives participated in the second edition of the Radicalisation Awareness Network’s EXIT Academy.

The two-day meeting (25-26 April 2018) took place in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) and it gathered the RAN EXIT Working Group, around 40 participants from a dozen of countries, including social workers, psychologists, probation officers, trainers, and other experts working in the field of radicalisation prevention and of de-radicalisation.

The focus of the meeting was the ways of engagement with and types of communication between the exit worker and the (formerly) radicalised individual. More specifically, the participants discussed exit communication, conversation techniques, evidence-based approaches, how to establish initial contact, the importance of both the first impression and empathy, etc.

Finally, discussions have also revolved around the question: “is it enough to disengage or the work should aim at complete de-radicalisation?”