PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
I have been dealing with group psychological abuse since the late 90s, between study and volunteering activity. I wrote my first thesis in Educational Sciences with research on Education and socialization in an abusive group, which was still active at that time. Later, in the early 2000s, I founded a center in Udine with the association SOS Abusi Psicologici (https://www.sosabusipsicologici.it ) for survivors of abusive groups and their families.
Over the years I have also dealt with harassed workers, founding three “Centers for the prevention, support and help for moral and psychological harassment, abuses and discriminations in the workplace”, accredited by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, in Udine, https://www.antimobbingud.it Pordenone https://www.antimobbingpn.it and Gorizia https://www.antimobbinggo.it
I presented the group psychological abuse phenomenon to the Regional Council of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, which has proved to be very sensitive to the problem by approving, in 2012, the Regional Law 11/2012 “Rules for the support of personal rights and full intellectual, psychological and moral freedom of the individual“, first signatory Councilor Roberto Asquini
https://lexview-int.regione.fvg.it/fontinormative/xml/xmlLex.aspx?anno=2012&legge=11&fx=lex
This regional law, in lack of a national law on mental manipulation, has financed helping centers with qualified professionals, where survivors and their families, can find psychological, legal and educational support help. Together with Councilor Asquini, I received the ICSA (INTERNATIONAL CULTIC STUDIES ASSOCIATION, https://www.icsahome.com ) award, in honor of Herbert L. Rosedale, “in recognition of leadership in the commitment to preserving and protecting individual freedom“.
In 2012, I was invited to join the Radicalization Awareness Network, RAN, an umbrella organization founded by the European Commission in the aftermath of the massacre in Oslo and on the island of Utøya in Norway, at the hands of a neo-Nazi terrorist, in which many young victims died. The work of the RAN was concluded in 2024, leaving the space to the EU KNOWLEDGE HUB, which continues its awareness-raising and training activities.
In the meantime, I also graduated in Psychology, concluding my studies with research on the evaluation of psychological abuse in manipulative groups for Italian population.
In 2016 I had the honor of participating in the Commission on Jihadist Radicalism at Palazzo Chigi, under the direction of Prof. Lorenzo VIDINO, with whom a study was carried out on the topic of jihadist radicalization in Italy.
Since 2017 I have been working on the prevention of violent radicalization, which increasingly involves very young people who encounter individuals and/or groups on the web who spread violent ideologies of different origins, inciting hatred and aggressive actions towards specific targets.
In 2018, I began my PhD in Clinical and Health Psychology at the Autonomous University of Madrid, with research on the manipulative strategies used by violent groups.
In this common thread that has accompanied my professional interest, I have explored some contiguous areas, such as the practice of alternative therapies that some groups use in a bizarre way, inducing their followers, in some cases, to abandon official medical paths to rely on their care. It was very useful to train on the topic through the Advanced Training course in Sociology of Health and Non-Conventional Medicine, at the Faculty of Sociology of Bologna.
Another in-depth study that I found extremely useful was the Post-Master in Family Mediation at the University of Verona, very relevant to our topics when parents separate due to joining a manipulative group. In these cases, parental alienation phenomena are not uncommon, in which the non-cohabiting parent and his/her family of origin are completely removed from the life of their child.
Finally, in 2017, I also graduated on Psychological and Psychodiagnostic Assessment.