Peace and Power: Working with Male Youth

A concerned awareness about boys and young men has sprouted and is growing. Educators, social service and health-care providers, corrections workers, counselors, and parents can see that many boys and young men aren't thriving as we know and hope they could be. It's clear that boys and young men are often struggling with the challenges of embodying "masculinity". While in some ways gender roles remain blurry and fast changing, highly traditional notions of masculinity are still deeply entrenched and play themselves out, at times with alarming social behaviors. The current story of boys is well documented. Too often it is one of declining school performance and social responsibility, awkwardness in relationships, low ability to communicate, high risk for violence and drug use, and poor emotional health.

Peace and Power is a Professional Development offering that warmly welcomes all those working and/or living with young males. This collaborative inquiry honors our collective knowledge in charting a course to meet male youth where they are. This exploration features experiential learning that utilizes simple arts-based practices all of us can do. Peace and Power focuses on the power dynamics of male socialization, psychosocial development, father-less families, and absence of intentional rites of passage. Also examined will be the phenomenon of adults/mentors being replaced by peers in a society that increasingly encourages a prolonged adolescence. The importance and positive influence of the presence of mothers, female teachers and other women in young men's lives will be included.

Our inquiry leads to a response, which focuses on skill building and strategies to strengthening our abilities to mentor young males in their journey of constructing a healthy and positive sense of male self. A deeper understanding of male youth culture allows educators to more effectively create a safe, socially responsible school culture featuring boys who are happier, positively engaged, and embodying their potentials.

• Identify pressures and positives of socially constructed masculinity.
• See through socialized masculinity to the spirit of the individual.
• Illuminate and support the expansion of young men's range of self-concept.
• Employ creativity into their teaching, communication, and discipline style.
• Avoid emotional triggering brought on via young males' negative behaviors.
• Use a conflict resolution style that is specifically attuned to young male culture.
• Role model conflict resolution and positive communication styles that are highly compelling to boys and young men.
• Generate meaningful and positive connections that young males value.
• Initiate and sustain environments which inspire young males' performance and social responsibility within the school community and beyond.

Recommended group size: 30 participants.
Format: 65 % Interactive/ Experiential - 35% Presentation
Length: Full-day workshop, half-day also available.
Requirements: Room for participants to sit in a circle, whiteboard and markers.

Peace and Power has been presented recently at:
BC Alternate Education Conference 2010, 2008, 2006, 2005

BC School District #22, 36, 39, 42, 43, 87
BC Provincial Youth Workers Conference

Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver
Child Abuse Prevention Services Hauraki - New Zealand

Conflict Resolution Network of Canada
Greater Okanagan Teachers Association
Heart Politics conference - New Zealand

Immigrant Services Calgary

Langara College, Vancouver, BC

Oregon Youth Authority, - USA
Professional Development Seminars - New Zealand
St. George's Senior School - Vancouver, BC
Tatamagouche Centre, Nova Scotia
Vancouver Coastal Health Authority