Association for Nonviolent Communication

The Association for Nonviolent Communication runs campaigns and educational workshops for children and young people in the region of Ljubljana. They wish to cultivate a collective belief, especially among youth that good interpersonal relationships can only exist when every individual is able to respect the human rights of others. They believe fighting discrimination and promoting equality is the best way to prevent violence. Besides educational workshops, they run a guided help group for young males who behave violently (project “I have a choice”) and a socialising programme for children who experienced violence. With regular gatherings with trained volunteers this programme provides a safe environment to nurture violence-preventive attitudes.

The goal is to offer the child a positive relationship with an adult – an experience of trust and respect. Guided help groups offer adolescents a safe place to express their ideas, opinions, beliefs and doubts in a way that no one is insulted or devaluated. In the group, adolescents get a clear message that violence is never acceptable or justifiable. The Association’s de-radicalisation work is integrated in the programme for perpetrators of domestic violence, whose stereotypes and misguided “radical” beliefs about “others” (frequently regarding gender roles) present risk factors for violent behaviour. The notion is that the society, and therefore the de-radicalisation organisations, should hold perpetrators accountable for their actions and try to change their behaviour. The work with perpetrators is focussed on domestic violence and combines group work (social skill training) with individual work, depending on the situation and individual. A lot of clients lack the capability of proper human interaction. Generally they start with a course of 12 weeks in which they focus on respect, violence, human rights, gender equality, parenthood etc. After the 12 weeks there is additional individual support, when needed.

Contact details:

Linhartova C. 13
1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia

Katja Zabukovec Kerin
Email: katja.zabukovec@guest.arnes.si
Tel:(+386) 1 43 44 822