ABOB work with young men aged 18-25 involved in the criminal justice system, providing them with the support they need to make the transition to an adulthood free of crime, and full of connection, purpose and meaning. They do this through their Quest Programme which brings young men and adult role models together in an intensive contemporary rites-of-passage experience and an accredited mentoring programme. The young men they meet have often experienced or witnessed domestic violence. They may have been abused or else kept someone else’s abuse a secret. They may have experienced neglect. They may have grown up where drug and alcohol abuse is commonplace and where positive adult role models are in short supply. Their focus is to link adult male role models to these young men, giving them experiences that challenge them and support their growth, and providing them with a lasting community that supports them.

‘They have seen an 82% reduction in the severity of offending behaviour after The Quest programme.’

How we’ve Supported a band of brothers

Since November 2018 we have granted £20,000 to fund 20 young men to attend a transformative 13 week programme called the Quest for Community. It starts with a 3 day residential event, spent in nature, away from their habitual stimuli which reinforces old patterns, During this event, young men work through a challenging process of better understanding themselves through articulating emotions, engaging their imagination and grappling to gain a more sophisticated way of making sense of the world.

This residential is followed by a 12 week schedule of one to one meetings with their mentor. During this time, the young man will also be a part of full local ABOB community meetings. They mark the end of the programme with a “homecoming” graduation ceremony where participants become ABOB graduates. Amongst other outcomes from this programme, they find 80% of participants reported a “much lower severity” of offending behaviour or else complete succession. The £20,000 also covered the training of a number of new men to become mentors.