Nature-Based Experiential Learning
For Your School Group, Team or Organization
Hire Journeymen to lead your group into deeper connection to self, community, and nature. Highly-trained guides implement our Rites of Passage methodology to ensure that each experience is tailored to meet the unique needs of everyone involved. Way beyond basic safety, we carefully manage risk across the social, emotional, physical, and psychological planes to help youth and adults find new “edges” and learn to love a healthy challenge.
Leave the logistics to us and bring out the absolute best of your crew in some of the most beautiful parts of our region. From 8th grade graduations to pre-season team bonding, we can design a formative experience to take your group to the next level – wherever that is!
MARKING WHAT’S MEANINGFUL
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GROUP SIZES: 12 – 120
LOCATIONS: Seattle, Tacoma, & Greater Salish Sea (Puget Sound)
LENGTH: Typically 2 – 5 days (longer by request)
“The experience was completely life changing – actually 100% life changing. I haven’t felt this good. Ever.”
– Youth
“There really are no words that do justice to how much gratitude I have for Journeymen to be a part of my son’s life – thank you – never underestimate the impact you are making in so many lives.”
– Parent
“The Quest showed me how to love myself and to trust what I was doing in life.”
– Youth
Key Benefits
Distributed group leadership & higher engagement
Increased social-emotional intelligence
Stronger inter-generational relationships (youth-adult-elder)
Greater trust and communication skills
Clearer mission, vision and/or purpose
Create positive rituals and traditions
Group Trips
How it WorksHow it Works
Get in touch to start the convo. We’ll follow up to learn more about your vision for your group and how we can support. If it feels like a fit, Journeymen will create a custom course proposal with the option to hire us as your personal field guides. We specialize in creating accessible, and powerful nature-based experiences for folks of all genders, and we love making new partnerships!
FAQ’s
The shift toward a more inclusive model is one that has come as the result of significant deliberation among our youth, staff, board, council of elders, and community partners. Since our beginning in 2016 we have consistently heard a call from our stakeholders to build upon the success of our model and expand to work with folks of all genders. And it has required us to dig deep into our values, consider our resources and capacity, as well as our vision for the work we have committed our hearts to:
MEN OF INTEGRITY
RESPECTING ALL
THRIVING TOGETHER
We’ve always known that the benefits of creating male-specific groups are only beneficial if we also consider the ways we must integrate our growth into the “Real world”, where we regularly interact with folks of all genders in virtually all aspects of our lives. While it might not seem obvious at first, we believe that this initiative will help us realize our vision sooner and more fully, and also integrate vital learning from folks across the gender spectrum to enrich the lives of the whole village around us.
By creating safe spaces for boys and young men to begin to process their personal and shared traumas we are addressing the needs of some of our regions most impacted youth and providing pathways to success in school and beyond.
- 1 in 3 young men have no positive male figure
- Boys with no role model are 2x as likely to turn to crime
- 1 out of 3 boys say they lack a sense of identity
- Boys are 3.5x more likely to commit suicide than girls
- Boys are less likely to apply to, attend, and graduate from college than their female peers
Recognizing that western society is struggling to properly welcome boys into manhood, Journeymen creates these necessary transformational experiences for adolescent boys to discover, refine, and amplify their authentic selves.
We encourage compassionate, inspired and resilient young men through nature-based rites of passage, mentorship, and community engagement.
Through these initiatives, Journeymen is deeply committed to fostering equitable and regenerative communities that address many of modern society’s most prominent issues, including sexual assault, violence against women, racism, and preserving and restoring natural resources.
Thankfully we have a large pool of qualified mentors, guides and elders of all genders right here in our community who have expressed a desire to be involved in creating and staffing experiences for youth of all genders. While most of our current Journeymen employees are men, we will continue to train, recruit and collaborate with women, non-binary and transgender folks who feel called to join us in this endeavor. If you’re interested in mentoring, feel free to fill out an application here, or check out our training experiences here.
The One Village Initiative is an ongoing conversation that will take shape as we engage with our community. It is important for us to move delicately and deliberately to ensure we are acting in integrity with our mission, values and the needs of our “village”.
At this time we are committed to offering Kindle, our 2 day, one night campout for youth of all genders and one of their parents/guardians. After careful consideration, we decided that this experience was well suited to become our first offering in the One Village Initiative in 2022, as it is focused on the parent-child bond, targeted for younger participants, and was already held by a gender-diverse staff.
We are are currently considering piloting a version of The Quest for teens / young adults of all genders. The final decision to offer this experience will be determined at a later date, after further conversation with potential staff, our elders council, our network of professional guides, youth advisors, and our board of directors.
Many of our Journeymen training courses are offered to folks of all genders, and we will continue our tradition of offering many opportunities for youth and adults to develop their skills in mentorship and rites of passage leadership that furthers the Journeymen mission as well as the goal of the One Village Initiative.
Band of Brothers will start Thursday, January 21st and continue for 16 full weeks ending on Thursday, May 6th. Enrollment for Band of Brothers 2021 experience opens on December 9th.
Band of Brothers will start the week of September 14th and continue throughout the duration of the school year ending in June 2021. Enrollment for 2020 – 2021 Band of Brothers experience opens on August 26th.
Journeymen’s One Village Initiative (OVI) is a collaborative project with the mission to support the development of mentorship and rites of passage experiences for all youth in our communities.
A rite of passage is a ceremony and marks the transition from one phase of life to another. Although it is often used to describe the tumultuous transition from adolescence to adulthood, it does refer to any of life’s transitions (Births and Beginnings, Initiations, Partnerings, and Endings or Death). There are many passages in our lives we can choose to mark and celebrate.
Not a problem! We do our best to accommodate each family’s needs and, with enough notice,can try to find any items that you might need for the experience. We have also teamed up with the WTA (Washington Trails Association) and on occasion have access to their lending ‘Gear Library’.
Band of Brothers is offered to all Vashon boys in grades 4 through 12 and is free of charge. Enrollment in VISD is not necessary for participation.
It is important to us that your child says “Yes” to the experience. We’ve found that it can often be detrimental to the child and the group when brought to an experience against their will.
That said, it is not uncommon for a teen to initially resist an experience proposed by their parent or guardian. In this case, our staff team is always willing to hop on a call to chat with you and/or your child about Journeymen + One Village, the experience, and answer any questions/concerns they might have before making a decision.
We’ve found that once youth have a better understanding of what they’re committing to and who he’ll be engaging with – they are much more empowered to make an informed decision that is in their overall best interest.
In-school CIRCLES meetups are free to attend, and fees for outdoor adventures and off-site trips are sliding scale with fee waivers available for those in need.
Each Band will include up-to 20 participants, with two professional Guides leading their experience. For all in-person meetups, Band Guides will each work with half the group in order to keep group size and youth-to-adult ratios low. In-person group sizes will not exceed 10 youth total per group. As COVID precautions lift, more large group offerings will be offered, as well as inter-Band mentorship across the ages. Band of Brothers closely monitors COVID restrictions and as COVID precautions lift or shift, we will keep you informed and adapt accordingly.
The health and safety of our participants, staff, and our community is our first priority. We have developed our weekly Band of Brothers in-person meetups (and the overall program structure) based on the latest safety guidance from the Washington State Department of Health and the CDC.
Precautions listed below represent the latest guidelines from the Washington State Department of Health for our type of activity (Child Care & Youth Development) at the time of writing (Aug 2020). The document used for this planning and process can be viewed here. For the latest information on Washington State’s “Safe Start” Phases and re-opening as it relates to our activities please visit this link.
We also recognize that these guidelines can change quickly depending on the status of the virus in our state and country. We will only host offerings that we believe are safe for our community. If at any point it becomes clear that any of our program curriculum is not safe, we will either change or not facilitate those components.
List of Precautions we will be taking to keep both participants and staff safe:
- Health Screening: Mentors & Youth will complete a health screening each day at check-in, including temperature and symptom check, and must attest that they have not been exposed to anyone with COVID19.
- Groups: Boys will be organized into small ‘Band’ groups of no more than 10 youth for in-person meetups with up to two staff. In-person bands will remain consistent through the program duration.
- Masks: Mentors & Youth will be required to wear masks during all Journeymen in-person meetups with the exception of while eating and while outside at a distance of greater than 6ft apart.
- Outdoors & Social Distancing: Activities will take place outdoors as much as possible. Six-foot social distancing will be maintained indoors and outdoors whenever possible within each small group, and always when boys from different ‘Bands’ are together.
- Hygiene: Youth and mentors will be instructed in hygiene and illness prevention measures. We will have access to restrooms, handwashing, and hand sanitizer for in-person meetups.
- Cleaning: When using indoor spaces, only one group will be in a room together, and the room will be disinfected before another group uses that space. High-contact surfaces in shared bathrooms will be disinfected approximately every two hours. All shared supplies, equipment, and facilities will be disinfected between groups and at the end of each day.
- If Someone Gets Sick: Campers or staff who display illness symptoms will be sent home or asked to stay home. Families will be notified if a camper or staff in their child’s group gets sick, while maintaining privacy of the individual. A sick individual may not return to the program until they have met quarantine requirements or are cleared by a healthcare professional to return.
Journeymen Institute is not affiliated with any religious group or church.
We look to our external and internal environments for inspiration, wisdom, and guidance. Finding our place in nature is both fun and healthy.
Journeymen is committed to maximizing inclusion and access for participants who are unable to afford our courses and are otherwise qualified to enroll.
In recognition of historic and ongoing economic disadvantage, participants identifying as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & Person of Color) may opt to waive Course Fees (except the required $25 processing fee), and/or pay what you wish/can toward enrollment.
We believe that finances should not prevent anyone from receiving the support they need to thrive. Simply select the “Financial Aid” option during the registration process.
Band of Brothers is offered at no-cost to families and is primarily funded by charitable donations from our community.
Band of Brothers 4 month mentoring course is currently offered at 50% off for a limited time only!
Journeymen is committed to maximizing inclusion and access for participants who are unable to afford our courses and are otherwise qualified to enroll. We achieve this by offering sliding scale pricing so that families can select an option that works best for them.
Tier 1: Supported = $500
Tier 2: Sustaining = $750
Tier 3: Abundant = $1,000
If the cost of this offering remains a barrier to participation, please reach out to us directly at info@journeymen.us – we are committed to finding a solution for ALL families interested in joining one of our experiences and feel confident we can find a solution that works for your family.
Each circle is capped at 15 students and requires an adult-youth ratio of at least 1:5
Journeymen is able to offer Band of Brothers at no-cost to our community thanks to generous private contributions and support from Vashon Island School District. We are nearly half way to our fundraising goal for the school year. To help support Band of Brothers, please contact Executive Director Nicky Wilks at nicky@journeymen.us or Program Director Alex Craighead at alex@journeymen.us, or call Journeymen at 206-429-5203. All donations supporting Band of Brothers made through September 30, 2020 will be matched 100%. Journeymen Institute is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Donations to Journeymen are fully deductible as allowed by law.
All mentors participate in an intensive 8-hour training and submit to a full background check process.
Enrollment is coordinated with school staff based on needs and capacity. We encourage interested parents to submit a Registration Form if interested in particpating and we will do our best to accommodate your request.
No. And this has been reinforced consistently in our conversations with stakeholders. Since our beginning five years ago, we have heard overwhelmingly how important it is to have dedicated spaces for youth and adults to engage in identity-based explorations of self, gift and purpose. And this won’t be changing anytime soon. At this time we’re still planning to offer at least as many experiences for boys as we have in previous years.