In our support groups, we invite 6 people to a 6-week course. We meet once a week in Copenhagen, for 2 hours per walk. The group will be led by a group leader. We work based on peer to peer - also called mutual support methods. This means that our group leader leads the group through the person's own knowledge and experience with topics related to violence.

Listen to the podcast "What is Violence?" section 1. Here we elaborate on what we do in the support groups.

Mutual support methods, can be defined as a method whereby support comes from people with similar lived experience. The support is mediated though mirroring and recognition. Through empathy and active listening, we address feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Studies of peer support show, that the method can prevent depression, anxiety and loneliness. We believe that this is about experiencing an open-minded community and non-judgemental spaces, where the participants can share and open up to healing with other people. The participants tell us that throughout the four weeks, they experience a sense of community in particular way, which helps to re-establish trust and belonging in other social settings.

Many people who have been exposed to violence find it difficult to talk to experts, such as psychologists, as experts traditionally do not use peer-methods. Not using peer-methods can create an asymmetrical relation where the expert might not recognise experiences related to violence which can further alienate the victim's experiences. We believe that peer to peer support can help move healing away from therapy rooms and into the larger community.

In the groups, we provide 'social education' to emphasise the link between inequality and violence. 

From psychoeducation to social education 

From "psychoeducation" to "social education" means that violence is a political social issue and not a personal problem. We understand that violence prevention must be regarded as an action between person and society, and not between the victim and the perpetrator. In this way, we can engage in larger political initiatives and action plans that perceives violence against individuals as a burden on society.

We believe that acts of violence are based on basic mechanisms in society, which form the breeding ground for violence as well as victim-blaming and thus the socio-cultural attitudes towards violence that make many consider violence a personal problem.