Aspinden Care Home
Specialised residential service supporting people living with the effects of long-term alcohol use
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Man Up is a programme thoughtfully designed to support groups of young and adult men in various settings to consider the values, attitudes and thinking so often informed by those cultural norms and the associated pressures and expectations of being a ‘man’.
Safe Ground recognises that cultural norms around masculinity exacerbate harmful behaviours associated with status, ‘identity’, and anti-social activity. We developed Man Up in response -a programme thoughtfully designed to support groups of young and adult men in various settings to consider the values, attitudes and thinking so often informed by cultural norms and the associated pressures and expectations of being a ‘man’.
The programme explores the following central questions:
Over three days, we use an arts-based methodology to create space for participants to nurture new perspectives and undertake a reflective and practical shift in focus. They consider long-term aims, pro-social relationships and leisure interests, further education, and community engagement, free from the limitations of peer pressure.
Delivery of Man Up is possible in various secure and community settings, including the adult male prison estate, YOIs, STCs, SEMH schools, children’s homes and youth clubs.
3 days.
6 sessions, each lasting 2.5 hours.
Delivered on a full-time or part-time basis.
8 – 12 participants (14-18 year olds) or 10-16 participants (18 year olds or over).
2 x Programme Facilitator.
Quality assurance (train the trainer), co-delivery, and direct delivery models are available.
Man Up was evaluated in the double-blind peer-reviewed Journal of Criminal Psychology (Blagden and Perrin, 2017). They found a significant pre/post programme reduction in ‘toughness’ and increases in self-esteem and risk-taking perceptions, as well as participants’ positive reconstruction of what it is to be a ‘man’.
View Man Up’s most recent impact reports:
Participant at HMP Wandsworth.
Participant at YOI Wetherby.
Participant at HMP Berwyn.
Our arts-based methodology supports our participants to understand better the drivers of their criminal activity and its impact on family relationships.
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Participants are supported through a process of personal reflection and creative self-expression. They are invited to tell their story and make their mark in this space.
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A creative self-development programme for women. It is essentially about the stories we tell ourselves and each other about being women, developed in consultation with women in prison
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A reading and creative writing programme designed to support mixed groups of men an women with debilitating and limiting low-level anxiety and mild mental health concerns.
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Participants are supported to develop new, hopeful perspectives and coping mechanisms where reengagement with family members initially seems, or is, not possible.
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We offer bespoke programmes tailored to meet the specific needs of your service or organisation.
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Our flagship programme, designed to support groups of young and adult men to consider the societal values, attitudes and thinking as well as the pressures and expectations of being a ‘man’.
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