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BYM

Boys and Young Men’s Mentorship

Spectra offer free, confidential, 1-2-1 mentoring, and group workshops to support boys and young men. Themes explored include healthy relationships and sex, identity and self-esteem, mental health, emotional literacy, consent and more.

Key information

Where

Wandsworth

When

By invitation

Eligibility

Age range

13-24

Location restrictions

People who live, work or socialise in

Wandsworth

Application required

Professional referral

Boys and young men aged 13–19 years of age (up to 24 with complex needs e.g. SEND) in Wandsworth.

What it offers

  • Up to 10 sessions of 1 to 1 mentoring for BYM.
  • Group workshops and seminars for BYM.
  • Youth group drop-ins.
  • Training for professionals who work with BYM in Wandsworth.

Our interventions are designed to create discussions around:

  • Sexual health
  • Sex and the law
  • Pornography
  • Emotional literacy
  • Communication
  • Masculinity and identity
  • Positive relationships
  • Consent
  • Trust and exploitation

 

Referral Criteria

  • Young men aged 13 to 19th birthday. (Aged 13 to 25th birthday for young men with SEND).
  • Live, work, study or socialise in Wandsworth
  • Referral form must be completed for each young person

In order for work to start, the referring agency must have signed and returned a Partnership Agreement.

 

Delivery

  • One-to-one work is delivered in person and can be delivered in a range of settings. They typically run for 45mins – 1 hour with up to 10 sessions.
  • Group sessions run in collaboration with a referring agency and can run between 6 and 12 weeks. These sessions are conversation-based for groups of approximately 6 young people. The service takes a holistic view of sex and relationship education and goes beyond delivering practical health information, recognising that sex and relationship behaviours are liked to much broader identity and attitude issues. We, therefore, design interventions to build self-esteem, critical thinking, and emotional literacy in addition to practical knowledge and skills around healthier sex, relationships and communication.

Referral Thresholds

Any experience of the following as victim or perpetrator:

  • Lack of sexual health knowledge and additional complications engaging mainstream services
  • History of sexually inappropriate behaviour or low-grade sexual violence – e.g. non-consensual touching, revenge porn, sexual harassment that has been reported but no further action taken or out of court disposal.
  • Patterns of coercive or controlling relationships
  • Negative attitudes or hostility to women
  • Negative attitudes or hostility to LGBTQ+ communities
  • Difficulty expressing themselves or emotions
  • Poor communication skills leading to difficult relationships.
  • Toxic ideas about gender and gender roles
  • Vulnerability to exploitation and difficulty recognising exploitative vs trustworthy relationships.

Refer Someone

If you know of a young person who would benefit from our Boys & Young Men services, please support them to complete the referral form, ensuring they consent to their information being shared.

Get Started

Contact information

Contact YPServices@Spectra-london.org.uk to discuss the service, referrals, or organise a drop-in to existing youth groups. Please complete the referral form for the 1 to 1 mentoring work.

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