The parents who founded Parents for Peace had no one to turn to for help as they watched their children slip into extremism. Determined to make sure no other family felt alone or powerless to intervene effectively, Parents for Peace created a confidential and free helpline to assist families with deradicalization interventions.
First launched in 2017, the helpline has assisted hundreds of families from across the country and around the world and addressed a wide range of extremist ideologies. Drawing on lessons learned from suicide hotlines and other mental health helplines, the helpline has a formal protocol for evaluating cases, devising specific interventions, monitoring progress, and coaching families to healthy outcomes. Cases are ultimately resolved based on criteria in P4P’s helpline manual, ideally when it appears the at-risk individual is on a healthy path to recovery.
Complex factors that lead individuals into radicalization, most stemming from an underlying anxiety, trauma, or other mental health issue. Extremism functions as a drug of choice, a short-cut to numbing pain. Our intervention effort involves de-escalating from the ‘shortcut’ path back to a place where the core issues driving the initial turn to extremism can be addressed. When properly understood, the same vulnerabilities that were exploited by extremist groomers can instead become openings for healthy engagement. Our strategic approach involves guiding families and other potential mentors to find these openings and begin to redirect the individual, replacing the unhealthy influence of the traffickers/groomers.
Complex factors that lead individuals into radicalization, most stemming from an underlying anxiety, trauma, or other mental health issue. Extremism functions as a drug of choice, a short-cut to numbing pain. Our intervention effort involves de-escalating from the ‘shortcut’ path back to a place where the core issues driving the initial turn to extremism can be addressed. When properly understood, the same vulnerabilities that were exploited by extremist groomers can instead become openings for healthy engagement. Our strategic approach involves guiding families and other potential mentors to find these openings and begin to redirect the individual, replacing the unhealthy influence of the traffickers/groomers.
Our team brings an array of professional and personal experiences to guide interventions. We are clinicians with international experience, as well as survivors of extremism – including former extremists who understand the radicalization and deradicalization process intimately. Click here to read about our Intervention Specialists.
Since launching the helpline in 2017, Parents for Peace (P4P) has been pioneering a public health approach to extremism prevention. The confidential helpline has assisted hundreds of families and individuals from a wide range of societies struggling with different ideologies, from far right to far left, Islamism and eco-terrorism.
As one of our co-founders, Monica Holley, often reminds us, “this is a no-judgment zone.” We understand that no one is born an extremist, nor does radicalization happen overnight. It is a complex issue that can affect any family. The important thing to remember is that you are not alone in this struggle. Parents for Peace is here to help you.
Our interventions involve educating and guiding families and their loved ones to a healthy path of recovery. Our intervention teams (including Exit Interventionists and Intervention Specialists) work through specific and agreed-upon goals with our participants, working to get to the core issues driving the initial turn to extremism. When properly understood, the same vulnerabilities exploited by extremist recruiters can instead become openings for healthy engagement.
Engagement with hateful ideologies and groups looks different for every person. As an intimate bystander (e.g., parent, friend, partner, spouse), you are one of the first people to witness unusual behavior or have conversations with your loved ones about their hateful ideology or extremist group membership.
Common signs include:
If you are concerned about a loved one but are not sure they are radicalizing or are radicalized, please call our helpline today!
1. Contact Us – You can call our helpline at (1-844-497-3223) or email us at help@parents4peace.org. Please let us know the best times to connect with you in your message.
2. Intake Process – Chat with a helpline operator! During this 30 to 60-minute-long discussion, the helpline staff member will get to know you and your reason for calling.
3. Schedule Intervention Sessions – After your intake call, a case coordinator will reach out to schedule regular sessions with a team of exit interventionists trained to educate, coach, and support you.
4. Participate in Intervention Sessions – Parents for Peace provides two types of intervention sessions: indirect and direct intervention sessions.
5. Off-Ramping – Ideally, once your situation is on a healthy and steady path to recovery, we will start speaking to you about off-ramping and decreasing the services provided by P4P. In this phase, we will also evaluate what secondary services might be of assistance to you.
Parents for Peace helpline and intervention services are offered free of charge to participants. As a participant in P4P programming, you can initiate a pause or terminate services at any time.
