NO More Masks
Millions of young people around the world get up in the morning, get dressed, and put on their masks for the day.
What does this mean?
We’re not talking about costume masks…or maybe we are.
These masks are invisible walls young people put on every day before school and they don’t come off until they get home, some never come off.
These masks are how young people want the world to see them on the Outside:
- School peers
- Friends
- Teachers
Other Adults etc.
The tough exterior that protects them from showing what’s inside, because our toxic culture doesn’t allow for young people to show emotion, to show feeling, to show the real stuff.
On the Inside of these masks are thoughts and hidden feelings such as:
- Insecurities & Fears
- Sadness & Grief
- Worry & Shame - Anxiety & Depression; the list goes on.
This program started by Ashanti Branch, an American school teacher and Founder of the Ever Forward Club, seeks to help young men in particular be able to share their feelings, to share what’s going on inside them, in order to address our societies need to repress young men’s emotions because it does not fit into our cultures toxic ideas of masculinity. This repression leads to discontent in men’s lives as they grow older; emotional suppression, domestic abuse, depression and suicide.
No More Masks aims to address these problems while they are still young, and to foster emotional intelligence through face-to-face workshop and mentoring.
This culture is creating generations of invisible children.
You might see the mask, but is that all your seeing?
The basic structure of the workshop would look somewhat like this:
15 min: Welcome & Introductions
15 min: Defining a Mask
35 min: Exercise: Taking off the Mask & Reflections
35 min: Exploring beneath The Mask & Reflections
10 min: Reflections and Debrief
15 min: Closing & Jamming
