There is a broad range of support efforts specifically targeted at citizens in Aarhus Municipality. For example family members or others who are concerned about the behavior of a friend or someone they know.

Advice and Guidance

If you, as a citizen or a family member, are worried about a person who displays concerning behavior and/or is a part of an extremist milieu, you have the opportunity to receive advice and guidance. The advice and guidance is provided by staff from East Jutland Police and Aarhus Municipality who works with radicalization.

If you want to receive guidance regarding how to handle this issue, please contact the Info House.

Parent network

As a parent of a child or a youth who displays troubling behavior and/or is a part of an extremist milieu, you may feel the need to share your concerns with other parents who find themselves in a similar situation. Aarhus Municipality currently offers a network for parents of young people who participate in extremist right-wing milieus. A network for the parents of young people who have travelled to Syria is also available.

Through the network, you have the opportunity to receive advice and guidance on how you as a parent can best handle the situation. The network meets once a month.

Workshops for young people

Since 2012, Aarhus Municipality has been in direct contact and had a dialogue with pupils in their final year of school and those in further education programs. This dialogue has been established with the express aim of helping young people in following a direction that bypasses extremist milieus. The contact is established through dialogue based workshops, which partly provide knowledge and put students' attitudes, opinions and roles in the spotlight, with a focus on concepts like radicalization, extremism, discrimination and prejudice. A workshop is a two-hour course run by two instructors who are involved in the work on "Preventing radicalization and discrimination in Aarhus". The instructors guide the students through the workshop, disseminate knowledge on the subject and encourage dialogue and reflection from the students. In these workshops, the class’s permanent teacher(s) plays a passive and observing role, so the input and ideas from the workshop can be taken up in the class afterwards.

We can also facilitate a meeting of the teachers at the school with information and dialogue on radicalization and discrimination and an explanation of the workshop model.

Preparedness in response to the conflict in Syria

Are you the parent of a young person who plans to travel to the conflict in Syria as a relief worker, or is intending to join in the armed conflict or has come back after taking part in the conflict? If so, you have the opportunity to receive guidance and counselling from employees from Aarhus Municipality and East Jutland Police by calling the Info House.

Furthermore, you have the opportunity to be connected to a network of parents who find themselves in the same difficult situation.

Mentor Support

Since 2010, in Aarhus Municipality, we have offered preventive mentor support for young people at risk of radicalization. Preventive mentor support can help the young person with getting a solid grip on life and help to change lives.

Mentor Support is offered to both young people who are at risk of radicalization, and/or young people who already are radicalized and participate in extremist milieus.

Mentor Support is provided in accordance with the laws governing Social Services. This means that the assignment of a mentor requires a formal decision by a social worker who is affiliated to the working group for the prevention of radicalization and extremism of young people and adults in Aarhus. It also means that the work carried out is officially registered and assigned a case number at the Department of Social Services.

Exit program

Aarhus Municipality has created an exit program, which is targeted towards the adults in Aarhus Municipality who are politically or religiously radicalized to such an extent that they need help in order to leave the radicalized milieu.

The exit program helps individuals out of violent political or religious milieus and helps the individual return to the community. Specifically, the exit pro-gram focuses on the needs of the individual and these needs are crucial in determining what work actually needs to be done. For example, it could be advice and guidance, psychological counselling, or help to go into education and/or work.

The prerequisite for participation in the exit program is that the individual is deemed to be sincerely motivated. Furthermore, implementing the various support measures requires that the individual consents to the exchange of information between authorities. It also means that the work carried out is officially registered and assigned a case number at the Department of Social Services.