Introducing Our Online Course For Parents and Educators

 
© Next Gen Men 2020

© Next Gen Men 2020

 

By Jonathon Reed

The first piece in a two-part series delving into the origins and design of Next Gen Men’s online course for parents and educators, Raising Next Gen Men.

We hope you read on to discover why postive mentorship matters—and how you can be a better leader too.

Read the second part here.

“I just realized you’re probably the person I trust most in the world,” one of the participants in NGM Boys Club wrote to me earlier this week. “Like, in everything. Thank you.”

He and I have never actually met in person. During his time with Next Gen Men, however, I’ve made space for him to connect and share what’s on his mind. We’ve talked about his passions and hopes for the future, the stress of going to school through a pandemic and the uncertainty of flirting at age 13. At some point, I became one of the people who knows most deeply and clearly what’s going on in his life.

That’s not unusual, and it’s not a coincidence.

Working with youth, building relationships and offering support is literally what I do. I’m a mentor, I’m a confidant, I’m a friend—not just because that’s my job, but because I know firsthand how much it matters.

I can remember the first time I responded to a suicide attempt. The time I helped a trans kid come out to his parents. The time I took a crash course on the youth justice system with a young teenager who was accused of attempted manslaughter.

In all of those situations, in all those relationships, it wasn’t just about me, and when I helped support a positive outcome, it wasn’t just because of any one skill I honed, or experience I brought to the moment. There wasn’t an intuition that I woke up with, or answer that came to me, or a playbook I could look up.

Whether it’s the teachers I work with, the parents I talk to, the youth mentors I consider my colleagues, and the ones I consider my own mentors too — we’re all more than the sum of our parts.

We stand on the shoulders of giants, building on the work of both brave people and vital research. We draw from deep wells, working with the experiences of our own lives and the wisdom of our inner selves. And, in engaging youth in ways that can impact their whole lives, we do what we do knowing the stakes are as high as they could be.

So in those moments where everything matters, who is backing us up?

As parents, educators and mentors for the young people in our lives, we have options, and we have hope. We can build our skills. We can do our homework and practise our craft. We can keep learning and unlearning, each building our own inner knowledge base through research and experience. 

We can learn to swim, and learn the waters we’re swimming in. And we’ll get stronger.

Raising Next Gen Men is a master class on the development of masculinity. It’s the distillation of a decade of experience engaging youth in gender justice, a gift for the wellbeing of boys and young men—and it’s at your fingertips.

Next week, I’ll delve into the origins, intentions, and outcomes that were part of the design process for Raising Next Gen Men.

Can’t wait until then? Click here to find out more about the course.

Written by Next Gen Men Program Manager Jonathon Reed as part of Learnings & Unlearnings, a bi-weekly blog reflecting on our experiences working with boys and young men. Subscribe to Future of Masculinity to get Learnings & Unlearnings delivered to your email inbox.

Learnings & UnlearningsJonathon ReedYouth, Masculinity, Mental Health, Parenting, Education, Raising Next Gen Men