creating _ space _ for boys and young men around being safe and safe to be around
A practical resource for those who work with boys and young men in schools, colleges, youth services, Youth Justice, fostering, sports, mentoring – wherever!
The FOUNDATIONS: 12Dialogues work is ideally delivered by facilitators in your setting who have been trained* by Men at Work C.I.C., with boys and young men typically aged 13yrs+ (although additional elements were added in early 2025 to respond to increasing demand from Primary Schools)
FOUNDATIONS: 12Dialogues can be deployed at your setting’s discretion as sequential, multi-week programmes for whole cohorts, sub-cohorts or for targeted interventions with particular groups (or both) and / or used as modules to support mentoring sessions, #RSE and #PSHE
The 12 Dialogue Themes are:
Who do we respect? Why? Do we confuse respect and fear? Is respect automatic or earned?
The social do’s and don’ts of being men. Pressures and privileges, limits and license, experiences and impacts
Thinking about risks and risk-taking, peer-pressures, face-to-face and online
What is a good friend, mate or bro? What do we expect and want? What are the rules, if any?
What does the world transmit to boys young men about money? What does it mean for them?
An exploration of seeing human beings as ‘things’ (objectification). How it works, its harms and how to resist it
Thinking clearly about areas in life in which exercising control can be legitimate vs those (i.e. controlling other people) where it is not
Hearing, understanding and respecting ‘no’ – spoken or otherwise
What we can do to reduce risk of harm to others – including awareness of our own beliefs, values and behaviours
What it looks like, in reality, in friendships, in institutions, at home, online, in relationships
Asking for help is a good thing! Knowing when, how and where to ask for help – and also how to offer it
What kind of man do I want to be? What characteristics? how do I want others to see me? How do I get there?