Dissociation Support for Young People
Dissociation and disengagement services must be appealing and low-threshold in order to reach as many diverse young people as possible. Young people are encouraged in an individualized way to overcome racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, sexist and other attitudes of group hatred. At the same time, they will be supported in adopting a non-violent approach to life based on solidarity, commitment and fundamental freedoms. The services are to be implemented in schools, youth institutions, as well as in out-patient youth services or as special social training courses.
Youth and social workers as well as teachers will be supported in developing the most effective way of dealing with dehumanizing and anti-democratic attitudes. A convincing democratic and human rights stance, dialogical "first responder skills" and narrative dialogue management, trusting and effective individual interaction with children and young people, as well as pedagogical interventions in groups are important levels of action. A repertoire of methodological measures and settings is available to counteract the strengthening of populist, dehumanizing, anti-democratic and right-wing extremist developments.
There is an increasingly urgent need for competent secondary prevention and dissociation support in all federal states - and especially in regions with a high risk of social problems and high approval ratings for anti-democratic and dehumanizing attitudes. Experience shows that colleagues in regular structures and primary prevention projects are often challenged when they try to implement effective action strategies in the face of strongly entrenched anti-democratic worldviews, challenging group dynamics, and a lack of resources.
with time-out procedures, narrative dialogue groups, and intensive individual or group training
The Center for Dissociation Support offers low-threshold civic education and prevention throughout Germany. Through school project days and youth cultural civic education, contacts and discussions with children and young people can be initiated and democratic, human rights-oriented attitudes can be conveyed. The mixed teams work with the young people on an equal footing and with a critical eye to their lives, moderating the dialogue in a narrative way. A time-out procedure has been developed for particularly challenging situations. This involves a direct personal approach. In addition, individual counseling sessions can be initiated, which can be continued with the help of social workers or social services from the community and can facilitate sustainable dissociation and processes of personality development.
The Dissociation Counseling Unit also offers Narrative Dialogue Groups in schools on a selective basis (depending on budget). Here, school classes of eight to 13 students are facilitated in free group discussions by two out-of-school group facilitators for at least one semester during one hour of regular class time per week. Relationship building, narrative dialogue, a flexible setting, complete openness of topics, and a supervised time-out area allow for confidentiality, voluntariness, personal willingness to talk, and a safe narrative space. Experiences of exclusion, mobbing, violence, group-based devaluation, anti-democratic subcultures and the like are often discussed. The young people learn to communicate personally, to take their own experiences seriously and to talk about them, to listen to each other and to develop an understanding for others and for themselves, to question themselves in a respectful way - and to work together at school to develop strategies for a more non-violent, respectful and sustainable society.
In order to stimulate developmental and dissociation processes, especially among adolescents and children who have adopted patterns of group hatred or anti-democratic attitudes at an early age, intensive, educational training in social and anti-violence skills and group work formats have been developed that can work toward biographical and socio-geographical reflection, corrective self-awareness, and the early initiation of personal change processes at a young age. Early dissociation training is aimed at young people who have been identified in school or who have been referred by the Youth Welfare Office within the framework of "youth welfare instead of punishment".
The group training sessions are preceded by 90-minute individual training sessions of up to 15 sessions. Parents and caregivers may also be involved in this phase. The group training sessions take place with four to eight participants over 15 days in several modules at a youth education facility. After the training sessions, the young people receive further support and outreach counseling at intervals tailored to their needs. A final meeting takes place after up to six months.
As the pilot project, in which the intensive educational training courses for "early dissociation" were developed and tested, is still opening up possibilities for further funding, these courses are currently only available on a limited scale. However, applications for funding can be submitted to the relevant authorities at any time.