"Who's the Man?" The Program

• Self Esteem & Self Concept;
• Boys Health (puberty, personal hygiene, respect & staying safe);
• Puberty - the changes on the 'inside;' managing mood swings, anger management, etc)
• Being a Young Man (challenging stereotypes, the media - body image, role models);
• Peer Pressure & 'Bully - Busting';
• Mateship & Help! (supporting our mates, ourselves - where to find help). 

The JUNIOR program is designed to be facilitated over a period of 6 weeks (5 x 1 hour sessions + 1 x ‘fun’ final session).  However, it can also be run over one-full school day, with the addition of a separate follow-up session at a later date.

SENIOR Program (Target: 15 - 17 years) 

• Self Esteem & Self Concept;
• Facing Facts: Exploring the issues affecting men in Australia today.
• Communication (effective communication strategies - talking about 'feelings');
•  Anger awareness and assertiveness training;
• Being a Man (role models; body image, challenging the media stereotypes, CHOICES, etc.);
• Young Men's Health (drugs & alcohol, sex and sexual health and mental health).
• How to help a mate / ourselves; where to find help.
     

The SENIOR program is designed to be facilitated over a period of 6 weeks (5 x 1.5 hour sessions + 1 x ‘fun’ final session). However, it can also be run over two-full school days, (or, an abridged one-day program) with the addition of a separate follow-up session at a later date.

Introduction

Many initiatives that are developed are often knee-jerk responses to community issues raised in the media.  An increase in violent behaviour will see calls for ‘anti-violence’ programs to be rolled out in our schools.  A cluster of incidents where binge drinking is blamed may see the introduction of some television commercials.  The fact is however, these band-aid solutions achieve little more than to create greater community awareness.

To change the culture, we need to tackle the issues affecting our boys and young men from the earliest stages of Primary School and continue to tackle them into their adult lives.  This needs to be a whole-society approach – a few programs in schools is only a start.

What School’s Out! aims to achieve, is to at least start the conversations; to “get the ball rolling.”  Our programs are largely discussion based to allow participants to have their own say and to empower them to come up with the possible solutions.  Rather than tackling one issue alone (i.e. Binge drinking, safe sex, etc), we create an environment where we can tackle most of the issues and explore just how much they really overlap.  We wouldn’t just tackle ‘anger awareness’ without looking also at safe partying and self esteem.  We wouldn’t look only at safe sex, without also looking at body image, the media and drugs & alcohol.

Our programs are designed to embrace community development principles; unlike many ‘one-hit wonders,’ we prefer to do things with sustainability in mind.  We strongly recommend that our programs are co-facilitated by a number of key adults from your community.  In the past, some schools have invited local youth/health support workers to co-facilitate, which allows for those crucial localised links to be created within your school, club or organisation.  By having your own staff co-facilitate the program(s), means that your school, club or organisation can then also provide any appropriate support/follow-up to participants when required.  We strongly enforce the need for individuals with tertiary qualifications in youth support (Youth/Social Worker, Nurse, Counsellor, etc) to be in attendance for the full duration of the program.

Why run this program?

Born from recent data and a high demand from schools across Australia, Schools Out! Youth Services introduced a ‘Young Men’s Program’ in 2005 to much acclaim and has continued to evolve into the existing program it is today.  The program itself aims to meet some of these significant service gaps and address the issues which have been identified as pertinent to young men in their middle years of secondary School.

According to the research report, ‘Enhancing the educational outcomes of boys’ (2003), “Teachers reported that one of the biggest obstacles in engaging boys was boys’ conception of masculinity and what it means to be a boy and a man.  This encompassed boys’ difficulties with aggression, conflict resolution and attitudes to learning… There was generally consistent support for the importance of middle schooling.  It was seen to be a period when students could be effectively targeted and greater school relevance could be built into their lives.  Constructions of masculinity are formed in these years, so tailoring pedagogy at this time could be beneficial…and it represents the time in a boys’ lives when they are increasingly practising masculinity and developing beliefs and practices revolving around homophobia.” (Martin, A ‘Enhancing the educational outcomes of boys’ “Youth Studies Australia” v.22, n.4, (Dec 2003)

Young males are also at a greater risk of completing suicide than females.  “In 2001, there were 2,452 deaths from suicide among all age groups in Australia.  Of these deaths, 14% (349) were of young people aged 12 – 24 years.  Among young people, 81% of suicide deaths were of males and 19% of females.” (Nov 2003) Australia’s Young People – Their Health & Well-Being: Australian Institute of Health & Welfare.

The Schools Out! Young Men’s Program aims to explore issues that relate to masculinity and identity, whilst covering topics that include: Self esteem, body image, challenging the stereotypes of masculinity, anger awareness and assertiveness training, men’s health, and setting goals, amongst many others.

• Provide a safe environment for young men to explore issues relating to masculinity, self-concept and self-esteem.
• Provide opportunities for young men to form new friendships with other young men within their school/community.
• To increase participant’s awareness of strategies relating to positive self-talk, effective communication, assertiveness, and anger management.
• To increase participant’s awareness of strategies related to ‘safe partying,’ specifically sexual activity and drug & alcohol use.
• To increase participant’s awareness and access to support services available to them within their own school and community environments (and to destigmatise and normalise men seeking emotional support/counselling).
• To encourage continued constructive conversations in the home and in the community.