Young Men of the Earth
Mentoring & Rite of Passage Program
A 5-month Earth-based Adventure and Rite of Passage
Program for Young Men
and Male-identifying Young Men
Ages 13-17
5 weekends from August to November
Starts August 3, 2024
*Options for fathers or adult males from 18 and up to participate in a support role.
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Learn valuable skills
Develop a sense of belonging to the land
and develop self-sufficiency
Build confidence in who you are as a young man
in your community
Have exciting adventures in the wild
with a group of fellow young men,
while being mentored deeply by older men
with more skill and experience.
Elements of this program:
Deep Nature Connection, Ancestral Survival Skills, Wilderness Adventures, Teachings on Healthy Masculinity, the Skills to be of Service to Community, Social Ecology Awareness, Regenerative Land Management Skills, Council, Decolonization and Intersectional Awareness, Personal Mentoring, Rites of Passage and Initiation into Connection and Maturity.
Who is this for?
-Young men who are looking for exciting, meaningful adventures in the wild
-Young men who want to build skills for living with the Earth with other boys of their age and older male mentors.
-Those ready to be challenged, to build confidence in who they are, and who want to engage in an ancient Rite of Passage process with support of community.
-Those who feel thåe call to the land and the wild and who want to find their way in their masculinity, in their community, to be fully alive and empowered as individuals.
Who else is this for?
-Adult Males yearning to find their sense of service to support young men in an Earth-based context to grow and come into themselves.
-Adult males may be parents or older friends in the lives of the younger men, or maybe they are simply really interested in supporting the youth and learning the Earth-based skills themselves or ways of mentoring in an Earth-based context from an experienced facilitator.
Weekends (takes place during the day on Sat & Sun OR overnight where indicated):
August 3/4 – Foundations of survival skills and nature connection. Foundations of tracking, foraging, gathering, and how to keep yourself healthy and safe on the land. Teachings of Decolonization and Ways of Being in relationship to the land, culture, and local issues.
August 31 – Sept 1 (Overnight) – Epic Overnight Adventure. Deepening survival skills. Exploring healthy masculinity and facing our edges.
Sept 21 / Sept 22 – Land Restoration and Regeneration Skills. Wild tending skills. Permaculture. Other skills and teachings on being of service to Community.
October 18 – 20 (Overnight & Rite of Passage) – The Skills and teachings of the Provider and Protector. Exploring who we are as Men in the Community, the world, and in our future. Skills teachings may include: Foraging, harvesting, hunting, fishing, and processing.
November 16/17 – Bringing it all together to find more of how we want to show up as men in our life and our world. Exploring more of how we want to show up as individuals in our community. Skills of the community caretaker. Sharing the stories and gifting the community.
LOCATION:
Salt Spring Island, BC
COST:
Sliding Scale $1250 – 1400 for young men, aged 13 – 17
Sliding Scale $650 – 800 for fathers or other adult men 18+ who want to learn mentoring as they support the younger men
Click on the link below to apply for the program or contact Matt at servicetolifementor@gmail.com with any questions or to book an exploratory call.
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Instructor
Matt McKinney has been working with the Deep Nature Connection mentoring model and the ancestral skills movements since 2009 and has studied extensively with various practitioners and specialists in the field. He is currently one of the core mentors with the Wisdom of the Earth adult Immersion program and was a mentor for WOLF Kids program for many years, as well as our original WOLF Teens program.
Matt’s commitment to regenerative culture and remembering how to live with the Earth has taken him to many places in North America, the tropics, and Europe. His passion and commitment to mentoring shines through, supporting others to find balance on an old path through a modern landscape. Matt has many yers of experienve and a special passion in supporting young men through rites of passage towards healthy adulthood.
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