Parents | Small Steps Hub

Extremism Hurts Families

What You Need to Know

We all know how extremism can hurt its victims and those who get involved,

but what about the parents or carers of someone involved?

Often overlooked, we know from personal experience how families suffer when a loved one gets involved and succumbs to extremist messaging.

Looking to show the reality of this, this dedicated families page will look at how involvement impacts parents and highlight potential questions about how families can be supported.

To make sure families don't feel alone or judged, we want people who have attended our training to think about

how parents and families could be supported.

We want you to think, about what support they need and what you could do or your place of work

do to support families going through this.

Here what we would like you to do is have a discussion after each video about how families can be supported, what they need and what can be offered.

Seeking to upskill users of this site, we want you to think after watching each video about what you could do to help.

How would you engage with someone who had a son, daughter or family member involved, could you listen, offer support, advice and know where to signpost people to for specialist support?

Supporting families, in 2017 Small Steps helped establish the Exit Hate Trust charity (1197666).

Dedicated to helping people impacted directly by extremism, Exit's focus is to help individuals leave and families cope with the heartache and trauma of having a loved one involved with extremism.

If you have a question, need support or just need a talk you can reach out to either ACT Early at - https://actearly.uk/

Or for lived experience support you can talk to a family member who has been through this themselves reaching

out to our partners - Exit Hate Trust, who have a dedicated family support programme which includes parents

who have had a loved one involved, understand and never judge.

To find out more please visit - https://www.exithate.com

email - info@exithate.org or call 0800 999 1945

Families Need Support

Non-stop Fun

Having watched this video, we hope you can see how extremism can impact any family

and see the effect it can have on mothers.

Showing the reality of how at one end people can be helped to leave and how at the other end,

if missed extremism can take lives, this video shows how families need critical support.

Once you have watched each video, please take some time to reflect and

have a discussion about how the video makes you feel and have a talk about what support each parent needed.

First Look

Emma Needed Help - What Would You Do?

Emma's story is not uncommon, having witnessed multiple families struggling to understand how a loved one can become involved in extremism is heartbreaking and this is why we train people to understand the issues.

Supporting people like Emma, we need your help, to provide support at local level.

Often a listening ear can change lives by opening a door to specialist support, but without people like you using this website to open that door, many families could remain isolated, so what can be done?

So how could you help Emma? What would you say, what help could you give and what support does she need?

Here why not split into groups and discuss how you think Emma can be supported and what she needs.

Once your groups have had a discussion, feedback to others and let's see what people think and

how people like Emma can be supported.

A Gaming Classic Comes Back Even Better Than Before

Gavin Felt Ashamed

Gavin struggled when he found out his son was involved in a Neo-Nazi group.

He couldn't understand how his son could do it.

Ashamed by the actions of his son, Gavin didn't want to talk to his friends or family because he felt like they wouldn't understand or would even judge his son whom he adores and the family as a whole.

Feeling lost, in pain and and his wits end, he and his wife looked online for support and found help,

but could he be helped locally?

What do you think Gavin and his family needed? Was it different for him than Emma?

If so how and why? How could they be helped and can you develop support locally?

What could you and those around you do?

Extremism Can Impact Any Family

Having looked at the stories of families impacted by extremism, you now know how extremism can affect any family.

Today there are no stereotypes as to who is an extremist. They could be -

The Activist

Chris

It could be a young adult who spends time online and gets interested online in extremism and becomes an activist.

The Vulnerable

Alexa

Not everyone who gets involved with extremism is male, a growing number are female, sometimes seeking protection from extremists because they have been hurt.

The Recruiter

Mark

It could be someone who has a good job, but away from work is an extremist recruiter who uses multiple profiles to trap people like Chris.

The Damaged

Neil

People don't just become racist or extreme, there has to be a need or a trigger. Often people who have suffered reach out to extremists because no-one is there for them.

* To protect the identity of people involved, models are used in our publicity material and their inclusion does not indicate their political opinions

Friends Matter

Looking at things differently, what do you think it is like for a friend, who is approached by a close friend who has a son involved in extremism? How could they be supportive and what advice could they give? Watch this short video and why not have a discussion about what you or someone could say?

Then have a wider discussion on how this would feel as a friend, would this put them under pressure,

could they be honest, could it damage their relationship. What do you think?