All of our work includes Young People of different ages and we design different ways to Invite them to join in. Young people are involved in our Intergenerational food growing and performance project, A Little Patch of Ground, and are welcomed when they pop in alone or with their carers to visit our Encounters shops.

We also deliver specialist work with young people at risk and this includes Talking Young Men a programme of work for young people on Court Orders and one off projects such as Missing from Home a film about young people in Care.

Our Talking Young Men programme works creatively and therapeutically with young men between the ages of 13 and 18 who are at risk of offending, re-offending and anti-social behavior.

The next Talking Young Men project will be taking place in Torbay until June 2014

The original Talking Young Men programme was developed with the Exeter Young Offending Service and delivered by Encounters Associate, Ben Yeger in 2012.

Taking place over a series of weekly sessions, participants explore what it means to be a boy/young man in our society today. Final sessions take place outdoors and involve the young men in a simple rite of passage. Participants develop skills in active listening and non-violent communication, and use creative approaches from image theatre, theatre of the oppressed, drama therapy, conflict resolution and forest school. Session themes included; the journey to becoming a man, creating positive relationships, sexual behaviour, drugs and alcohol, crime, the negative and positive attributes of male identity and how we can create new perspectives, aspirations for the future.

The aim of Talking Young Men is to create a safe and trusting space for participants to explore their current attitudes to these themes and to examine how these may contribute to their offending and anti-social behaviour.

Project Links

Museum Page | Documentary film of Project | Project Evaluation Report |Project Images | Dissemination Event Images