We’ve been busy beavering away behind the scenes and designing a new programme to help support young men and boys.
If we want boys and young men to be proud of themselves and their peer groups, then we need to engage their aspirations and positivity rather than telling them what they ‘should do’ – it didn’t work with us as teenagers and it won’t work with them! WE ARE ALL CULTURE is our new workshop which is based on the Continuum of Harm and Pyramid of Harm to highlight every individual’s power and influence within a peer group to change and adapt the behaviours and attitudes that surround them.Culture isn’t something we just insert ourselves into.
Culture isn’t something we wear like a jacket.
Culture is something we all contribute to.
Using John Amaechi’s quote “culture is defined by the worst behaviour we tolerate” this workshop considers how cultures are built and maintained AND what we all can do to change them.
Appealing to leadership and role-modelling this session suggest ways to call-in our friends to question motives or behaviours and help our friends to become kinder, safer and more empathetic people to be around.
Perfect to install within groups of boys (but not only boys) and Staff teams a sense of ‘this is how we do things here’. Sessions can be an hour and works as a 30 to 60 minute assembly or a small-group workshop.
The sessions considers the cultures we exist within – formal and informal – and how those cultures are formed and WHO forms them.“Culture does not make people. People make culture” as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says and we explore this in the workshop – looking at positive cultures within organisations and how unhealthy cultures develop and what needs to be done to challenge and engage people in defending positive cultural development.
We look at the recent London Transport campaigns around sexual harassment on public transport which highlight how to spot the signs of harassment, what to do about it if safe to do so or how to report instances via text or other technological methods.
There’s a chance for students to see themselves in a number of situations, explore some simple role-play and we cover strategies to help people when they are experiencing difficulties as long as it’s safe to do so.
After a recent session in NW London, a student came to me afterwards to say that the session made him reflect on his place in the world – as a peer to his Year 12 students, as a brother, a son, and an uncle to a young niece and nephew – we wanted to say he’d realised that, as I’d said, leadership doesn’t need a title or an arm band, it needed some bravery, some moral courage and tools to create change. Acknowledging the power of peer pressure, we talked about ‘calling-in’ his friends on a personal basis rather than shouting something publicly – speaking honestly one-to-one and explaining what he was thinking, how it made him / others feel and that he didn’t think it reflected positively on his friend’s character. Calling-in avoids public humiliation and requires a quiet courage but was more likely to hit home and cause reflection in the friend rather than resentment.
Contact us for details