The Talking Young Men group has kicked off…

Talking Young Men is a participatory project working with young people being supported by the Torbay Youth Offending Team. The aim of the project is to support participants in developing skills in active listening and non-violent communication.

The project is led by Ben Yeger, a creative associate of Encounters.

Session One took place in March and focused on Trust. The purpose of the session was to set clear boundaries for the group, building some trust and a sense of what the group is about.

The trust building exercises led to discussion through which it transpires that each of the young men feel that they don’t have anyone in their lives that they trust, ‘that is just how it is’.

Session Two is a notoriously tricky one because something has been established which participants start to feel part of- and that can be scary. The session aimed to continue to build trust and start to introduce the culture of the group so it becomes a safe space for the Young Men. The young men signed up to the group agreement which ultimately felt important.

Ben then led a “River of life” exercise. Here each young man marks different moments in his life along a drawn river with a sections for past, present and future. In general the food we are providing seems to be met with approval from the lads - which given it’s hippie pies from Totnes, fruit, organic cheese and ham sandwiches- isn’t bad going…

Session Three started with an exercise which charts feelings and opinions in a variety of areas including self-esteem, creativity, confidence and ability to trust. Ben then offered statements for participants to respond to by positioning themselves on a spectrum between ‘agree’ and ‘disagree’ with these statements…

“I care about how my future is going to turn out”

“I wish I made better choices in my life so far”

“I am what I am and I can’t change”

The session was challenging and at times quite edgy however the fact that the two key exercises were completed signals a success.