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ABSTRACT
Violent radicalization is a complex process that results from multiple influences and experiences across the settings and contexts of an individual’s life. No single pathway or characteristic determines who is at risk for it. Given this understanding, no single intervention aimed at this multiply-determined problem is likely to be successful if it is implemented in isolation. Multidisciplinary team approaches are increasingly seen as holding promise in the prevention and intervention of violent radicalization in the United States and internationally. A multidisciplinary team is typically a group of professionals who are members of different fields of study (psychology, medicine, social work, etc.) who provide a specific service to an individual. Team members independently focus on the issues in which they specialize and activities of the team are coordinated with a common goal. This paper aims to extend current knowledge by addressing questions related to challenges in implementing a multidisciplinary team approach with the capacity to address violent radicalization, presenting potential solutions to these challenges as well as highlighting one multidisciplinary team, Community Connect, that successfully worked with youth identified as being at risk for violence.
Acknowledgments
We thank each member for their invaluable contribution to the design and implementation of our multidisciplinary team.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
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28. Weine et al., “Utilizing Mental Health Professionals to Help Prevent the next Attacks.”
29. Ibid.
30. Rosand, “The 116th Congress and Preventing Extremist Violence: Look North for Guidance.”
31. Rosand, “Multi-Disciplinary & Multi-Agency Approaches to Preventing & Countering Violent Extremism: An Emerging P/CVE Success Story?”
32. Ibid.
33. Dalgaard-Nielsen, “Terrorism Research Initiative Countering Violent Extremism with Governance Networks,” 10:137.
34. Ibid.
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37. B. Heidi Ellis, Scott H. Decker, Saida M. Abdi, Alisa B. Miller, Colleen Barrett, & Alisa K. Lincoln, “A Qualitative Examination of how Somali Young Adults Think About and Understand Violence in Their Communities,” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 37, no. 1-2 (2022): 803–829.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
B. Heidi Ellis
B. Heidi Ellis, PhD, is an Associate Professor in Psychology and Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, and a licensed clinical psychologist. She is also the Director of the Refugee Trauma and Resilience Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, a partner in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Dr. Ellis' primary focus is on understanding and promoting refugee youth mental health and well-being, with a particular emphasis on understanding how trauma exposure, violence, and social context impact developmental trajectories. Over the past seventeen years she has conducted a Community Based Participatory Research program with Somali youth and was Principal Investigator of a multi-site, longitudinal research project examining developmental pathways to and away from violence, including ideological violence, gang involvement, and constructive civic engagement.
Alisa B. Miller
Alisa B. Miller, PhD, is Research Associate at the Refugee Trauma and Resilience Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, Assistant in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Boston Children’s Hospital, and an Instructor in psychology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Miller is also a licensed clinical psychologist. Her interests include exposure to trauma and sociocultural factors, and the impact these have on functioning and well being. Her overarching interest is reducing mental health disparities and improving systems of care to better serve all youth in U.S. communities.
Ronald Schouten
Ronald Schouten, MD, JD, is Co-Director of the Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. and Director Emeritus of the Law & Psychiatry Service at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Schouten has contributed to workshops sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense, DTRA, DOE, FBI the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and the Nautilus Institute. He was a member of the Amerithrax Expert Behavioral Analysis Panel investigating the 2001 anthrax attacks. He serves on the threat assessment teams of multiple corporations and educational institutions and is a member of the MassBay Threat Assessment Team based in the Boston FBI Field Office. He was on the expert panel for the 2019 National Council for Behavioral Health publication “Mass Violence in America” and is on the Advisory Board of Parents for Peace.
Naima Y. Agalab
Naima Y. Agalab, BA, is the Director of Social Services at the Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center (RIAC) in Boston, MA, where she coordinates the social service programs including the Community Counseling Center and provides case management and advocacy in the refugee/immigrant community. She has had experience providing care and services to the refugee/immigrant community for over twenty years in partnership with local resettlement organizations, hospitals among other local agencies. Ms. Agalab also provides consultation to the Refugee Trauma and Resilience Center on research-related activities by assisting with outreach, education and recruitment strategies for grant-funded studies which seek to better understand Somali mental health and resilience.
Saida M. Abdi
Saida M. Abdi, PhD, is an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota School of Social Work in the College of Education and Human Development. Dr. Abdi received a combined Social Work/Sociology PhD from Boston University. Prior to her position at the University of Minnesota, she was the Associate Director for Community Relations at the Boston Children’s Hospital Refugee Trauma and Resilience Center (RTRC) where she has led RTRC’s efforts to build community partnerships to increase mental health knowledge and services in diverse refugee communities. Her clinical practice focuses on supporting children and families impacted by violence and migration and her research focuses on factors related to resilience among refugee and immigrant children and families and the use of Community Based Participatory Research.