The training is the core of Violence Prevention Network’s deradicalisation programme. It is carried out by two trainers. It either takes place as individual training or in the form of a group training.

Individual training

The individual training takes place under the following conditions: Voluntary participation, willingness to reflect, respect and appreciation, as well as the willingness to talk about oneself. Due to more severe radicalisation, the primary goal in individual training sessions is to establish accessibility of the participants and to build a working relationship. The next phase only begins after the first phase succeeds. It involves implementation of additional goals, reflection on the extremist attitudes and (if applicable) the violent career, as well as assumption of responsibility for the future. Individual training takes place in small steps. Usually, this form of training starts with 15 sessions, but is strongly process-oriented and can therefore be extended with additional sessions.

Group training

Group training takes place under the same conditions as individual training: Voluntary participation, willingness to reflect, respect and appreciation, as well as the willingness to talk about oneself. It usually comprises of 23 training units and takes place weekly in the prison. The units consist of group sessions and concomitant individual sessions, whereby the design and relationship of the various session types are adapted to the needs of the group. These sessions usually last three to four hours.

Group training can be an effective tool for initiating thought and reflection processes. The interaction in the group allows the participants to put themselves in the situation of other participants and to develop understanding and empathy. At the same time the group helps them deal with the unfamiliar learning experience. The group also serves to form and clarify roles and to establish a constructive culture of communication and feedback. Participants learn to express their opinions and listen to the opinions of others. Feedback from people with similar experiences and life histories gives greater legitimacy to the thought-provoking impulses. The trainers provide inspiration and support.

In group training, participants also learn to identify personal boundaries, for example in the form of rules that each group sets for itself. A power-based mindset, hierarchical or (conflict-prone) relationships and provocation, physical contact, personal insults, or humiliation have no room in the training sessions. The group is also a diagnostic instrument for the trainers to classify the behaviour and reactions of the participants within their group and the effect of group dynamics.

The learning objectives of the participants in both types of training are as follows:

• Accepting the fundamental right to human dignity and integrity of every human being
• Understanding and changing their own violent behaviour
• Taking responsibility for their actions
• Developing a distance to extremism and inhuman ideologies
• Solving conflicts without violence
• Planning the future on their own

During the training the participants learn to understand the connections between their own life story and their susceptibility to violence and extremist attitudes. They learn to express feelings and to develop and apply non-violent conflict resolution strategies. However, current political debates and topics that concern the participants are also addressed to impart political education in the low-threshold area. Participants are supposed to recognise why they think in inequality categories. Motivations driving their thinking and acting are dissolved by questioning.

You can read all about our tertiary prevention in prisons in English language here and in German language here.