30 ICSA TODAY
Abuse and Manipulation in Groups:
Types of Intervention and Guidance.
Representatives of various European
and non-European associations will be
invited to participate. The objective of
this conference, scheduled for 2015,
is the development of an Operational
Guide of Good Practices, which will
be produced in partnership among
associations working in this field.
Collaborating on this project is Dr.
Miguel Perlado of the Association
Iberoamericana para la Investigación
del Abuseo Psicológico (AIIAP). The
new program continues the help desks
active in Pordenone and Trieste, where
we expect to meet people who are
interested in receiving information
about cultic issues.
Among the activities carried out by SOS
Abusi Psicologici in the second half of
2014, I draw attention to the following:
• On November 7, a preliminary
meeting was held entitled
Preparatory Meeting to the
Implementation of Guidelines
for Interventions in the Context
of Abuse and Harassment
in Cults: Experiences in Italy,
France, Spain. Invitations
to the meeting were sent
at the beginning of 2014 to
various Italian and European
support associations, and
a positive response was
received immediately in
Italy and in Europe. To limit
language difficulties for this
first meeting, however, the
decision was made to invite
only Latin-language speakers.
This approach is known as the
“Babylonian principle” (i.e.,
the clustering of participants
in homogeneous linguistic
groups with nonprofessional
bilingual translators).
Attending the seminar were
SOS Abusi Psicologici’s
professionals and volunteers
(northeast Italy) SOS
Antiplagio Novara (northwest
Italy), with its president
Giovanni Ristuccia and another
member SFRAEM–France,
with its president, the lawyer
Daniel Picotin AIIAP–Spain
and South America, with its
president, the psychotherapist
Miguel Perladc AIS
(Atención e Investigación en
Socioadicciones)–Spain, with
the director of its center, the
psychologist Vega Gonzales,
and Núria Muñiz.
• On November 8, SOS
Abusi Psicologici held a
conference in Udine entitled
Support Network to Address
Manipulation: Experiences
in Italy, France, Spain. The
conference marked the first 10
years of SOS Abusi Psicologici’s
existence. Conference
proceedings are available
in the online journal of the
association, Abusi e vessazioni,
Anno 3-n° 3| dicembre
2014 (abusievessazioni.it/).
• Another important
achievement was the
creation of a digital database,
developed by Dr. Caparesi
in collaboration with Dr.
Perlado, which will help the
organization to keep track
of requests arriving at the
center and to classify them in
designated categories.
EXIT scs onlus, partner of SOS
Abusi Psicologici, is continuing its
collaboration with other organizations
in countering political and religious
extremism, including participating in
conferences in Italy and Europe. On
November 21 and 22, EXIT participated
in Turin in the final seminar of the
European Project C4C (Counternarration
for Counterterrorism): The Terrorism
Survivors’ Storytelling Platform,
where there was a presentation on
cultic dynamics in terrorist groups.
EXIT is also collaborating with some
Italian associations involved in the
Radicalization Awareness Network
(RAN) to establish an Italian RAN along
with institutional bodies. A further
meeting was held on December 2 to 4
in Warsaw, where the whole group of
European RAN DERAD (Radicalization
Awareness Network Deradicalization)
met to develop a collective statement
on the approaches to deradicalization of
extremist groups. On this occasion, EXIT
also presented a brief reflection on cultic
aspects of some terrorist groups and
presented programs for family support
in cultic groups that could be applied,
with appropriate changes, to family
support in cases of political extremism.
In a recent meeting in Wien organized
by the Victims of Terrorism, Dr. Caparesi
gave a brief presentation on the cultic
phenomenon, outlining methods used
for empowering people to exit from
cultic groups.
For the near future, we are working
to set up a Family Support Center for
tackling extremism and violence in
Islamic cults.
Report From Poland
Piotr T. Nowakowski
The paper titled “School Social Worker
Efforts Toward the Problem of Cults
and Related Phenomena,” by Piotr T.
Nowakowski, PhD, was published in
the No. 3/2014 issue of the academic
journal Społeczeństwo i Rodzina (Society
&Family), issued in Poland. In the
paper, the role of a social worker in the
school context is defined, and then
social problems generated by cults and
related phenomena within this context
are presented. Finally, conclusions are
suggested about potential outcomes to
the above-mentioned issues as a result
of the school guidance counselor’s
professional activity. In relation to
the school context, among potential
challenges posed by cults and related
phenomena, several aspects are
noted. First, the discussion focuses on
the problem of infiltration of schools
by cults, including the issue of the
introduction of New Age ideas within
the school environment. This discussion
is followed by consideration of questions
about cultic movements establishing
Correspondents
,
Reports
Abuse and Manipulation in Groups:
Types of Intervention and Guidance.
Representatives of various European
and non-European associations will be
invited to participate. The objective of
this conference, scheduled for 2015,
is the development of an Operational
Guide of Good Practices, which will
be produced in partnership among
associations working in this field.
Collaborating on this project is Dr.
Miguel Perlado of the Association
Iberoamericana para la Investigación
del Abuseo Psicológico (AIIAP). The
new program continues the help desks
active in Pordenone and Trieste, where
we expect to meet people who are
interested in receiving information
about cultic issues.
Among the activities carried out by SOS
Abusi Psicologici in the second half of
2014, I draw attention to the following:
• On November 7, a preliminary
meeting was held entitled
Preparatory Meeting to the
Implementation of Guidelines
for Interventions in the Context
of Abuse and Harassment
in Cults: Experiences in Italy,
France, Spain. Invitations
to the meeting were sent
at the beginning of 2014 to
various Italian and European
support associations, and
a positive response was
received immediately in
Italy and in Europe. To limit
language difficulties for this
first meeting, however, the
decision was made to invite
only Latin-language speakers.
This approach is known as the
“Babylonian principle” (i.e.,
the clustering of participants
in homogeneous linguistic
groups with nonprofessional
bilingual translators).
Attending the seminar were
SOS Abusi Psicologici’s
professionals and volunteers
(northeast Italy) SOS
Antiplagio Novara (northwest
Italy), with its president
Giovanni Ristuccia and another
member SFRAEM–France,
with its president, the lawyer
Daniel Picotin AIIAP–Spain
and South America, with its
president, the psychotherapist
Miguel Perladc AIS
(Atención e Investigación en
Socioadicciones)–Spain, with
the director of its center, the
psychologist Vega Gonzales,
and Núria Muñiz.
• On November 8, SOS
Abusi Psicologici held a
conference in Udine entitled
Support Network to Address
Manipulation: Experiences
in Italy, France, Spain. The
conference marked the first 10
years of SOS Abusi Psicologici’s
existence. Conference
proceedings are available
in the online journal of the
association, Abusi e vessazioni,
Anno 3-n° 3| dicembre
2014 (abusievessazioni.it/).
• Another important
achievement was the
creation of a digital database,
developed by Dr. Caparesi
in collaboration with Dr.
Perlado, which will help the
organization to keep track
of requests arriving at the
center and to classify them in
designated categories.
EXIT scs onlus, partner of SOS
Abusi Psicologici, is continuing its
collaboration with other organizations
in countering political and religious
extremism, including participating in
conferences in Italy and Europe. On
November 21 and 22, EXIT participated
in Turin in the final seminar of the
European Project C4C (Counternarration
for Counterterrorism): The Terrorism
Survivors’ Storytelling Platform,
where there was a presentation on
cultic dynamics in terrorist groups.
EXIT is also collaborating with some
Italian associations involved in the
Radicalization Awareness Network
(RAN) to establish an Italian RAN along
with institutional bodies. A further
meeting was held on December 2 to 4
in Warsaw, where the whole group of
European RAN DERAD (Radicalization
Awareness Network Deradicalization)
met to develop a collective statement
on the approaches to deradicalization of
extremist groups. On this occasion, EXIT
also presented a brief reflection on cultic
aspects of some terrorist groups and
presented programs for family support
in cultic groups that could be applied,
with appropriate changes, to family
support in cases of political extremism.
In a recent meeting in Wien organized
by the Victims of Terrorism, Dr. Caparesi
gave a brief presentation on the cultic
phenomenon, outlining methods used
for empowering people to exit from
cultic groups.
For the near future, we are working
to set up a Family Support Center for
tackling extremism and violence in
Islamic cults.
Report From Poland
Piotr T. Nowakowski
The paper titled “School Social Worker
Efforts Toward the Problem of Cults
and Related Phenomena,” by Piotr T.
Nowakowski, PhD, was published in
the No. 3/2014 issue of the academic
journal Społeczeństwo i Rodzina (Society
&Family), issued in Poland. In the
paper, the role of a social worker in the
school context is defined, and then
social problems generated by cults and
related phenomena within this context
are presented. Finally, conclusions are
suggested about potential outcomes to
the above-mentioned issues as a result
of the school guidance counselor’s
professional activity. In relation to
the school context, among potential
challenges posed by cults and related
phenomena, several aspects are
noted. First, the discussion focuses on
the problem of infiltration of schools
by cults, including the issue of the
introduction of New Age ideas within
the school environment. This discussion
is followed by consideration of questions
about cultic movements establishing
Correspondents
,
Reports
