A Program that Helps Boys Find a Way to Belong
Remember what it was like to be in middle school? Everything about you is changing. Everything about you is starting “to count” like never before. Every day, you are reminded that the days of playing with your toys are fast being replaced with preparing for the work of being an adult. And it’s tough.
“Before, I thought you just had to be big and strong, but now I know it takes a lot more than that to be a good man.” –Altogether Boys Participant
It’s not always easy to be sure that our sons are getting the support they need to feel confident that they can make healthy, socially responsible choices in our very complex world. Sometimes, too, it’s easy to overlook that boys are scared about what it takes to “be a man” today.
“I wish they had taught me this in school.” – Men’s Therapy Program Participant
Clinical research indicates that the middle school years are perhaps the most delicate time in a boy’s development and that the choices we make for our sons now and the support we give or do not give them will shape the men they become tomorrow. A research report published online by JAMA Pediatrics in January 2020 — An Athletic Coach–Delivered Middle School Gender Violence Prevention Program — reinforces what we’ve observed in our Altogether Boys program: early intervention leads to positive, lasting results.
Altogether Boys helps boys and young men find the courage to tackle tough situations, the strength to be sensitive to complex issues, and the intelligence to build strong friendships. This is what it takes to succeed in a 21st Century economy, and this is what it takes to stay healthy and happy in a changing world.
Altogether Boys is an 8 Week Educational Program
In it boys develop the tools to:
- identify, understand and experience their emotions in sophisticated and intelligent ways
- become aware of how we influence and are influenced by our shared culture
- discover strength in strong peer communities, and build these communities
- recognize opportunities to make healthy choices
- develop a strong, healthy and balanced self-esteem
DID YOU KNOW? Boys are 2 times more likely than girls to drop out of school? AND 4 times more likely to be expelled? AND women are more likely to graduate from college than men?
Something is going wrong. This is not the nature of boys.
Our program addresses this by tackling the four areas that cause men and boys the most trouble – as adolescents and as adults. In our adult programs, men (whether they are here for counseling to manage anger or here for coaching in order to get a promotion at work) struggle with the same four things:
- Emotional Intelligence
- Healthy Expression
- Self-Awareness
- Relationship Building
Boys in our educational program build these skills with dynamic mentors, who facilitate complicated concepts in an exciting, fun and meaningful environment. Boys leaving our program know how to understand how frustration builds, how healthy friendships work, how to understand social pressure and how to make good choices. Perhaps, most importantly, they know how to reach out when they need support and guidance.
Bring Altogether Boys to your school, church, or organization. Hear more about Altogether Boys in this Revealing Men podcast. Call (616) 456-1178 or send a message to schedule a consultation and find out more.