“Society’s expectation of men has contributed towards a deficit in their inability to communicate feelings as effectively as they could. Men are getting a rough deal and are struggling to find their place and identity in society”.
The Men2Gether project:
The Men2Gether project is an initiative to redress the balance by empowering and equipping men to find responsible roles and clear purpose within their communities and families. By bringing Men2Gether it is hoped that they will develop a sense of self-respect self-esteem, self-value and purpose.
This will be achieved by an informal approach wherein men are encouraged to meet together and share their experiences of being a man.
After having our regulatory cup of tea or coffee and digestive biscuit, men are encouraged to share their experiences together. So far experiences, which have been shared, include being fatherless children, being separated from children, the effects of divorce and unemployment, ethnicity, masculinity, injustice, religion, culture, depression and anxiety etc. The list really does goes on. Interestingly enough, to date, the problem has not been in getting men to open up and share their experiences, it has been in getting men to stop.
Competent, caring, and enthusiastic staff members from community 4’rce facilitate these talk time discussions, and ensure that the atmosphere and environment suits that which is conducive to engage men in conversation.
Men2Gether is an all male environment (although I should add, that is our attention in the not too distant future, to bring men and women together in attempt to learn as much as we can from each other) where discriminating remarks regarding women are neither encouraged or accepted. We believe that male identity is not established neither benefits by looking down on women.
A main emphasis at our meetings is on how we can encourage younger men to become responsible men.
By empowering men and boys to become self aware, these fathers, sons, brothers and husbands will have a lot to share and contribute to women who are bringing up sons on their own. Likewise those same women, have a lot to share with men on how best they can invest their time and energy developing specific skills to enable them to serve as role models for young fatherless boys.
Youth and community work, Active listening, Cognitive Behaviour, Transnational Analyses and Person Centered Counselling skills training is used and delivered during our sessions, along with Safeguarding, and Health and Safety awareness.
All learning from the Men2Gether meetings is used to inform the Men2Be Young men’s development program, delivered by facilitators from Community4’rce to school schools other agencies supporting young men..
U-Quote Social Enterprise Initiative:
Another initiative of the men together program is the U-Quote Social Enterprise Initiative, wherein employed, unemployed and retired skilled and unskilled men are encouraged to offer high quality affordable service to members of the local community.
These services range from DIY, gardening, building work, mechanics, tree surgery, mentoring adolescent children, even driving hen and stag parties to their chosen destination. Any profit made from the service will be ploughed back in to the project and be used for those volunteering men to enable them to access training in a bid to improve their chances of securing employment. As well as this, a percentage of income will also be used as an incentive/reward for young men to get involved in community enhancement projects.
- The project is an open access project, and men from within the local community are invited to join the group at any time.
- Although there are no upper age restrictions on the project, young men under the age of 16, who would like to attend are encouraged to first contact us.
- Fathers who have younger children and would like to bring them along are welcome, however we would encourage you to first let us know so that we can make sure session content is appropriate.