Educate & Empower: social work against domestic violence

As youth workers we meet and work with young people from very different backgrounds. Whether we aim to support their social, emotional, academic or physical development, we need to be capable of recognizing the issues they are dealing with, and offer informed support. Domestic violence, and gender-based violence more broadly, have only recently entered the public discourse in many countries. They have largely been taboo topics in most patriarchal and traditional societies such as the ones in Southeastern Europe and the MENA region. The absence of supportive public response for DV victims and survivors, as well as the insufficient understanding of their needs, has led to a lack of preparation and training of teachers and youth workers to work with young people affected by DV.

Our training course aims to support the professional development of youth workers by enhancing their understanding of DV and equipping them with a range of tools to recognize youth affected by DV, as well as to offer informed support, and guide said youth on a path of healing and social inclusion. Additionally, the TC will build youth workers’ skills to manage stress and difficult emotions which arise from working with victims and survivors of violence, in order to minimize the risk for burnout, and ensure sustainable professional development.

The main objectives of the training course are:

▲ to equip youth workers with awareness and tools to recognize victims and survivors of domestic violence among the populations they work with

▲ to utilize a diverse range of tools to offer support, assess and reduce danger

▲ to develop the knowledge and skills of youth workers to guide affected individuals towards healing and social inclusion

▲ to ensure the sustainable professional development of youth workers by developing youth workers’ skills in relation to emotional management and self care.

   Through preparing youth workers to better address the needs of the youth populations they work with, and do so in ways that are responsible, thoughtful and do not put at risk neither the young people, nor themselves, our training course will contribute to the capacity building for quality youth work of their respective organisations.

The Training Course aims to deliver the following learning outcomes:

• to learn important concepts related to DV and IPV, and to gain the vocabulary to discuss the issue in a professional manner
• to understand the wheel of power and control, and its relation to abuse, gender inequality and partner dominance
• to recognize the features and indicators of the major types of abuse, and understand their impact on victims and survivors
• to critically examine the prevalence of DV and IPV in our countries and communities, and to devise thoughtful and actionable recommendations
• to critically examine myths and misunderstandings related to DV and IPV
• to develop organizational protocols for dealing with violence-affected youth
• to understand the obstacles that young adults face in seeking help for domestic or dating abuse, and brainstorm ways to overcome barriers to seeking help
• to recognize violence-affected youth
• to be aware of and utilize danger assessment tools
• to be aware of the legal aspects of working with violence-affected youth 
• to seek help when they need it and avoid "one-can-do-all" mentality
• to refer youth to other suitable resources in the community
• to plan safety measures with violence-affected youth, as well as ensure own safety.
• to improve our communication skills and practice techniques such as deep listening, asking probing questions, using non-threatening and non-judgemental language, etc
• to reflect on the importance of self care and enrich our knowledge of and experience with diverse self care techniques and practices