From Manipulation to Mobilization: How Coercive Control Drives Radicalization
Topic(s): 
Professional Practice
Trauma
Violence
Webinar event date: 
oct 5, 2026 1:00 pm EDT
Webinar link

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Webinar Presenters: 
  • Andrea Silverstone, MSc, PhD, RSW

    Andrea Silverstone is a Canadian scholar‑practitioner and the CEO of Sagesse Domestic Violence Prevention Society, recognized for advancing evidence‑based, trauma‑informed approaches to coercive control and gender‑based violence. Her work examines coercive control as a trans‑contextual phenomenon-shaping vulnerability across context such as domestic abuse, sexual exploitation, and radicalization-and integrates this analysis into community‑based prevention and systems‑level policy innovation. Andrea has led provincial and national initiatives that disrupt structural drivers of violence, broaden access to early‑intervention models, and inform legislative reform.  She has been honoured with multiple awards for research, innovation, and sector leadership, including the Alberta Inspiration Award, the RESOLVE Excellence in Community Service and Research Award, and the Soroptimist Women Making a Difference Award. Andrea is a Registered Social Worker and Qualified Mediator and is currently completing her PhD in Applied Psychology at the University of Salford, where her research focuses on coercive control

    Carrie McManus, BA, SW Dip, RSW

    Carrie McManus drives change as the Director of Innovation and Programs at Sagesse. Her innovative approach to service delivery and engagement has revolutionized the way organizations approach prevention and intervention. Carrie’s work takes a closer look at the unique experiences of domestic abuse within rural and remote communities, the intersections of sex work and domestic abuse and diverse communities that are often unsupported. She has also developed initiatives to build the capacity of informal supporters to recognize and respond to abuse. A registered social worker, Carrie has over 20 years of experience in strategic and program development, facilitation and education.

Description

Coercive control plays a central, but often overlooked, role in how individuals are drawn into extremist movements. Understanding radicalization through this lens is critical because it shifts the framework from viewing radicalized individuals solely as ideological actors to recognizing that many are groomed, manipulated, and psychologically entrapped in ways that mirror domestic abuse and sexual exploitation. This shift allows social workers to see that those who cause harm may also be experiencing profound harm themselves, isolated, controlled, and shaped by trauma, dependency, identity struggles, and systemic vulnerabilities.

This one‑hour workshop offers social workers a focused, trauma‑informed understanding of how coercive control functions within radicalization pathways. Participants will examine how mechanisms such as manipulation, isolation, dependency, fear, and identity reconstruction are deliberately leveraged by extremist recruiters to cultivate loyalty and reshape beliefs. These tactics align closely with the dynamics of intimate partner violence and grooming for sexual exploitation, demonstrating that radicalization is often less about ideology and more about coercive interpersonal influence.

The session will explore the psychological, relational, and structural drivers that make individuals vulnerable to extremist influence, including trauma responses, unmet needs for belonging, and identity‑related crises. It will also unpack the specific coercive control tactics used by extremist groups, such as grievance exploitation, misogynistic and anti‑feminist narratives, recruitment in online communities, and progressive indoctrination, to erode autonomy and deepen commitment.

This reframed understanding empowers social workers to identify risk earlier, intervene more effectively, and respond with empathy as well as accountability, acknowledging that behind harmful behavior often lies a victim of manipulation whose pathway into extremism reflects broader patterns of coercive control seen across forms of gender‑based violence.