Young people learn to talk their way out of conflict

Funding to facilitate research impact has allowed academcs from the University, Professor Hilary Pilkington and Dr Ajmal Hussain to work with practitioners from the Warrington-based Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Peace Foundation to develop a framework and toolkit for conducting ‘mediated dialogue’ with groups in conflict.

The idea grew out of collaboration on an intervention bringing together young people engaged in groups, networks or spaces viewed as ‘far right’, on the one hand, and vulnerable to ‘Islamist’ radicalisation, on the other. Research with the young people revealed not only polarised views, but a shared openness to engaging in dialogue with people antagonistic or antipathetic to themselves. After a series of three dialogue events, Dr Hussain said, “They might not have shifted their own positions but they’ve certainly shifted the perception that these two sets of young people, these two sets of ideas, can’t interact or engage with each other.”

The team has now developed a ‘mediated dialogue’ framework and toolkit designed for use by practitioners and professionals. The framework and toolkit can be used in community safety and neighbourhood team roles, restorative youth or community practices by social services and youth offending teams for a broader range of groups experiencing escalating conflict or as an opportunity to repair relationships.

Harriet Vickers of the Peace Foundation explains that ‘mediated dialogue’ is not a therapeutic methodology nor a classically ‘taught’ curriculum but a process involving measured and carefully directed engagement and learning. Through a range of interactive games, simulations and discussion-based activity formats, participants have the opportunity to learn and reflect on how they, and others, respond to different stimuli. This helps create empathy and develop critical thinking and reflective strategies.

The ‘mediated dialogue toolkit’ is currently being piloted and evaluated and will be available via the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Peace Foundation and University of Manchester websites.