Creating safe places for people to discuss their extremism concerns

In recent months, Groundswell Project has grown much more into the ‘training’ space, with several courses and sessions available for local authorities and other organisations to take up as part of their ‘Prevent’ work or simply to inform their staff and clients more about key topics of interest.

Our ‘Mothers for Change’ eight-week training course is a great case in point - delivered in areas known for potentially having more opportunities for radicalisation for young people, the course provides a ‘safe space’ for mothers to talk about their own experiences and things they have learnt, as well as concerns they have, in issues such as online safety, hate crime, and domestic violence. The sessions are primarily targeted at mothers who have children in school who have safeguarding concerns and struggle to access information elsewhere.

On the occasions we have already run this course, in liaison with experts in the field, mothers who have participated have specifically commented on how safe they have felt in expressing themselves and how much they have taken from the sessions, to share in their communities and with friends and family.