Frequently Asked Questions
Information for Parents
Journey to Manhood is an engaging, innovative, and safe program that helps boys gain the skills and insights they need for their journey to manhood. We help boys:
- Discover and live their dreams
- Assert themselves without violence
- Express their feelings constructively and with clarity
- Maintain integrity, accountability and self-respect
- Become healthy, happy, and powerful adult men
The program begins with a Rites of Passage Adventure Weekend (RPAW) where positive qualities such as integrity, courage, respect, passion, and leadership are modeled by more than 35 well-trained adult male staff. Through a series of carefully facilitated processes, each boy discovers something of the tremendous magnitude of his own humanity. Boys are challenged in new ways, supported in new ways, and find that they can respond in new ways. They find their own integrity, courage, respect, passion, and leadership and they discover that they can access these qualities and put them to work. It is an exhilarating, life-changing experience that many say they will never forget. But it is only an initiation—a beginning.
Over the months that follow, young men work with mentors and their peers to build on what they gained during their RPAW. Our groups are planned to meet every other week. Boys receive support and the chance to support others. They are empowered to learn for themselves and to be part of others’ learning. They discover their own form of leadership , give voice to their truth, risk experiencing and expressing their feelings, and are affirmed for the unique gifts that they bring to the world.
Why
Journey to Manhood
?
There are men today who are powerful role models, men who live with a deep and passionate commitment to their lives, their work, and their relationships. We believe that each boy can become such a man and we help boys equip themselves to get there.
Journey to Manhood staff create an environment of great safety where boys can reach new levels of honesty and self-awareness. Through a series of exciting and challenging processes, boys learn for themselves lessons that will serve them for a lifetime. They emerge with new tools and techniques for communication and self-discovery, strong bonds of camaraderie and friendship, and a deepened and strengthened sense of trust and self-respect.
Whether a boy is confident on his path or struggling, he will find Journey to Manhood opens new opportunities for more clarity, power, and zest for life as he transitions from child to adult.
About Journey to Manhood
Journey to Mahood
is a program modeled after the
Boys To Men Mentoring Network
and is provided by Threshold Passages, Inc. (TPI), a non-profit organization based in Denver, Colorado.
TPI is a non-religious, non-sectarian, non-partisan organization. We are committed to a policy of equal opportunity and do not discriminate against anyone on the basis of race, color,
sexual orientation, religion, or disability. We support a belief system that treats all boys, girls, men and women as part of a single, non-exclusive group.
Our processes are not designed with a predetermined direction or outcome.
Journey to Manhood/em> is staffed by dozens of committed and trained volunteers and professionals that have undertaken their own journeys of personal development. Our staff create a safe, strong, supportive environment that both nurtures and challenges boys.
We know that a boy’s family and friends give him critical support and guidance. Our job is to supplement that support and to give him opportunities to learn and grow that are not available in schools or other youth programs. Boys find an opportunity through Journey to Manhood that they can find nowhere else.
Journey to Manhood , has three components:
-
A
Rites of Passage Adventure Weekend
, which is facilitated by a staff that exceeds the number of boys going through the weekend. Weekends begin Friday evening and end Sunday afternoon. RPAWs are scheduled annually, and are limited to
20
participants.
All staff members are required to submit to state and national level background checks.
-
Follow-up mentoring
, where boys continue to meet with their peers and with adult mentors. This portion of the program mixes outdoor recreation, physical activity, and focused, facilitated discussion to help boys continue to develop themselves as men. The RPAW graduates (we call them
JourneyMen
or
JMen
) meet for at least one year following their RPAW. These groups are intended to be ongoing; JMen can attend as long as they want up to their 18th Birthday. Once 18 years old, he is recognized as an adult and can continue with TPI as a mentor (after passing a background check).
- After they have received appropriate training, Jmen have the opportunity to serve as staff on a future Rites of Passage Adventure Weekend . Here they practice their leadership and serve as role models for other boys.
Sign Up Now
Journey to Manhood
is accepting applications from 12 to 17 year old boys from all walks of life. We encourage and strongly support diversity and accommodate special needs.
Learn more about the next weekend program
.
Information for Boys
Should I do Journey to Manhood? Questions and Answers:
What is Journey to Manhood (J2M)?
We are friends, mentors, role models, and guides to teens ready to take the most challenging journey of their lives.
What happens on the J2M weekend?
We guide you on the adventure of your life. The Rites of Passage Adventure Weekend (RPAW) is where the journey begins. It is challenging and exhilarating. Sometimes it’s tough and sometimes it’s fun. Many young men say it was the best weekend of their lives.
That’s up to you. But if one or more of these is true for you, it probably is:
|
Is J2M about teaching me to be a man?
Teaching is not our thing. We ask you what you want in your life, and then help you make it happen.
Is this going to be fun?
Yes, the program is fun. But J2M is also very challenging.
How much time does this take?
The first thing you do with J2M is the RPAW. It begins Friday evening and ends Sunday afternoon. Following the weekend, you can participate in JourneyMen Groups (JGroups). Activities are scheduled twice a month.
How old do I need to be?
Boys who join us are between the ages of 12 and 17. If you feel ready, you probably are.
What if my parents are sending me?
If your mom or dad or someone else is telling you to go on the RPAW or to JGroups, then you should probably stay home. We only want those who are ready and have made their own decision to come.
Is this some kind of religous deal?
We're a secular organization. People of all faiths and those who claim no faith are welcome.
If I do the RPAW, do I have to do the JGroups?
It's entirely up to you. You choose how much you want to be involved. If you get part way into the RPAW and want to leave, someone will drive you home. If you don't want to do a JGroup, just say "I'm out." No explanation is needed.
What are JGroups all about?
Sometimes we play paintball, lazer tag, go bowling, race Go-Karts, see movies, or go indoor rock-climbing. Sometimes we do activities like those on the RPAW. Sometimes we’re just a place to share what’s going on in your life and get support.
After I do the RPAW, can I be on staff?
Yes. After you’ve gained some leadership skills from the JGroups you can apply to be on staff for a Rites of Passage Adventure Weekend. Young men travel from all over the United States to staff these events.
What if I can't afford it?
If you really want to join us, we'll find a way. Sometimes we have sponsorships based on need. Otherwise, there's a payment plan. We're on a 100 year mission. That gives plenty of time to even things out.
