Why do young people seek out and engage in violent extremism, and how can we prevent this as well as promote resilience to it? How can we, as professionals, be better equipped?
Mental illness is related to the experience of being outside the community. When young people turn to destructive environments, it can ultimately be life-threatening. 

The public mental health promotion perspective is the starting point for this seminar.
In the seminar, we highlight protective factors (health promotion) and risk factors (poor mental health) in a broad sense, and in relation to how one can work against destructive milieus. The seminar is based on the proven practice that Fryshuset has today through its many years of experience, together with the new evidence-based intervention Integrative Complexity Thinking (ICT) that over the recent years has been developed for a Swedish context, and is now being launched in Sweden in 2019. 

During the seminar, we will give practical operational examples in the success of the democracy-promoting, preventive, and intervention work.

What is ICT?

Integrative Complexity Thinking[1] (ICT) is a manual-based and empirically validated intervention that prevents a black-and-white "us vs. them" thinking while promoting social cohesion, mental health, democratic processes, and complex thinking. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed the program/intervention, and IDEDI/Fryshuset leads the work of adapting it to a Swedish context in collaboration with IC Thinking (Cambridge) Ltd., Umeå University, Uppsala University and the University of Cambridge. In Sweden, the program is being developed for three different target groups; young people aged 16–19 who attend upper secondary school, young people aged 18–25 who are in some form of NGO/youth activity, and adults who work with youths.

ICT is for everyone!

ICT has a cross-disciplinary relevance and ties in with the central goals that are included in the school's curriculum. It is also relevant to Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals[2], especially no 3.4 and 16.1.

Integrative Complexity Thinking is based on a psychological concept and empirical measure called Integrative Complexity (IC). It measures the complexity of one's cognitive structure, which forms the basis of information and decision processes, as well as how we perceive ourselves the social world. IC is not about what we think but how we think. In other words, it affects the cognitive structure and not the content, and it relates to an individual's ability to nuance and grasp the perspective of other individuals. The ICT program built around IC is innovative and groundbreaking. Because it’s focused on the cognitive structure, one can be faithful to one’s core values, while at the same time have an increased understanding of different perspectives and peaceful ways forward with those who think differently. This differs from other methods that often aim to transmit certain attitudes or knowledge. It is also one of the few evidence-based programs that work with relevant and specific factors that can be measured both before and after the intervention. The program has been empirically validated in different environments and with various groups in several countries. Results from evaluations have also shown that the effect of ICT remains one year later, and to a greater extent compared with control groups.

[1] https://icthinking.org 

[2] https://www.globalamalen.se