How Do I Start a Men’s Group?
Quick Start Materials:
Carefully developed by Men Are Great World
- Meeting Outline – Template
Fill in the [brackets]; print enough copies for everyone; and you’re set to run your meeting! This straightforward and succinct template can be used for every meeting indefinitely!
- Meeting Outlines – Completed
Get your group off to a great start with these optional full meeting instructions. Nothing to fill in or change (unless you feel like it).Included: 8-week intro playbook…. 8 distinct outlines to kickstart your first 8 gatherings; plus “Tom’s Fav’s”… 3 bonus outlines of Tom’s favorite Men’s Group sessions he has run. — All outlines tested and proven in Men’s Group, for fostering personal growth and meaningful connections.
- Practical Matters for the Initial Leader(s)
How is the meeting best run? When should we meet? Where should we meet? What should I write to attract potential members?
(Optionally) Check These Guides Out Too:
To stay well-rounded, it can be beneficial to check out what other Men’s Group guides say in addition to our own materials.
In particular, most men’s guides are much more detailed… and provide way more options… than anything that we have created.
(We have purposefully avoided getting into nitty gritty details and options on our own materials… because we believe… starting a men’s group… can falsely start to seem overwhelming or even impossible… when you get too into all that. Not to mention, that it’s better to keep things simple anyway.)
That all said, you may wish to skim through, or read fully… 1 or 2 other guides out there. Perhaps you will find a practical nugget of wisdom in them; or perhaps you will even decide that their guide should be the main one you use, and you can use ours as the backup for a nugget of wisdom.
It’s very much optional, but if you feel inclined, here are a few options, all created by men with plentiful experience in running men’s groups 🤓. I have read all of these myself; they are great, but in each there are also at least a few things I slightly disagree with.
- A Circle of Men
by Bill Kauth / ManKind
+ classic and well-tested;
– says you should aim to keep your group to similar age and interests (huh? it’s better to have plentiful diversity)
- Men’s Group Field Guide
by Brett Churnin
+ created by the well-rounded and dedicated man… who also runs the powerful Men’s Group facebook group… and has given presentations on men’s groups… etc.
+ this guide was instrumental in teaching me personally how to run a men’s group
– sometimes he doesn’t send his guide right away when you request it… (and his men’s group directory is also no longer updated)… busy man nowadays.
– a couple items are accidentally not inclusive of gay/bi men… such as the “Well Being” supplemental material, which assumes that romance only occurs in “relationship to women.”
- Men’s Group Leadership
by Paddy Murray
+ Thorough; Paddy has lots of experience… he also is a leader in the aforementioned Men’s Group facebook group.
– Occasionally a little hippie dippy… but only occasionally. For example, “the person to be healed lies down in a comfortable position and other men sit or kneel around him and put their hands on him and offer energetic and compassionate healing…” Then again, maybe a little hippy-dippy is good sometimes 🙂