Your vigilance can make a difference.
As our society is pulled farther to extremes, as our children become easier prey to online recruiters, more and more families discover that a loved one’s radicalization is not a niche problem.
Young people are blessed with an openness that can drive positive change – think about the civil rights movement. However, this openness can also be exploited by extremist groups who offer a deceptive sense of identity, community, power and purpose—turning them on destructive paths that alienate them from their families, subject them to rigid rules, and blind them to the consequences of their actions.
While our society values freedom of expression, it is crucial for families to recognize that not all legally protected protests are benign or healthy. Extreme beliefs and behaviors, even when legal, can evolve into illegal, harmful, and even deadly actions — a harsh lesson that the founding families of Parents for Peace had to learn on their own.
Rather than retreat in shame and guilt, these families came together to build Parents for Peace as a confidential non-partisan resource to help ensure no other families experienced the same pain.
Parents for Peace (P4P) operates the nation’s first and only free, confidential intervention helpline for addressing extreme beliefs and behaviors.
If you are concerned about a student’s extreme beliefs or behaviors, call our free and confidential helpline at 844-49-PEACE (844-497-3223) or email us at help@parents4peace.org.*
Since its establishment in 2017, our helpline has coached hundreds of families and individuals across North America struggling with different ideologies, from white supremacy and the far right to the far left and Anti-Fa, and from Islamism to Eco-Terrorism. Here’s the story of three of them:
P4P was contacted by the family after their 15-year-old student was found communicating online with a foreign extremist group. P4P’s holistic approach, involving the entire family, gradually loosened the grip of extremism on their son.
P4P was contacted by a mother regarding her son who was involved with Antifa. He’d soon who join a Marxist militia abroad to fight on their behalf. P4P’s peer supporters established a connection with him, while our interventionists assisted the mother in maintaining engagement with her son. Consequently, he returned and smoothly transitioned to civilian life.
A mother called about her son, who had marched at the infamous Charlottesville rally. He had both a history of substance abuse and access to the family’s firearms. P4P guided interventions that secured the weapons and opened a family discussion about their son’s sense of alienation. The son stopped drinking, admitted he was exhausted by toxic hatred, and began his road to recovery.
Parents for Peace (P4P) empowers families to build resilience against extreme beliefs and behaviors, as a public health issue. By partnering with educators, we aim to provide the knowledge and tools needed to identify and counteract extremist influences, ensuring safe learning environments for all.
Once the lead singer of a Neo-Nazi metal band, Arno’s life took a dramatic turn with the birth of his daughter, leading him from hate to hope. Today, as a speaker, filmmaker, and author of My Life After Hate and co-author of The Gift of Our Wounds, Arno uses his narrative to encourage empathy and understanding. His work at Parents for Peace focuses on helping individuals reject violence by seeing themselves in others and finding common humanity. Learn about the rest of our team here.
