BAM creates a safe space for young men to come together and discuss issues about their lives, which takes into account their lived experience and the often difficult environments they navigate.
Originally developed by Youth Guidance in the USA, the Mental Health Foundation adapted BAM for the UK in 2020. We have been delivering it in partnership with Black Thrive and Colourful Minds, including adapting delivery in response to the COVID pandemic. BAM is currently being delivered in three schools across Islington in London.
So far, BAM has supported over 600 young people – helping them to reach their full potential, make effective decisions in their lives, and instilling the values and skills necessary to succeed and contribute to society.
“It’s like a family, a safe place to talk, be happy and confident, to say what you want and speak to each other about what’s going on in and outside of school.”
BAM participant
The project has a number of outcomes over the short, medium and long term:
- In the short term, BAM improves social-emotional wellbeing, enabling participants to become more resilient to challenges and strengthen their relationships.
- In the medium term, it improves their social-emotional skills (e.g. empathy, emotional control) to reduce their risk of exclusion or involvement in crime.
- In the long term, BAM improves decision-making, emotional regulation and school engagement to increase their likelihood of pursuing further education or work.
How Becoming a Man works
Delivered within schools, our expert BAM counsellors – trained in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Trauma-Informed Care – support young men to discuss issues in their lives through four key activities:
- BAM circles: regular peer-support sessions for groups of 8-12 young men
- Brief encounters: quick, informal check-ins around school e.g. in the playground
- 1-2-1s: personalised provision for young men with greater support needs
- Special activities: group teambuilding activities outside of school e.g. Go Ape!, martial arts
There are six core values which BAM emphasises:
- Integrity
- Self-determination
- Positive anger expression
- Accountability
- Respect for womanhood
- Visionary goal-setting
The young people taking part in BAM are supported to adopt these values through actively experiencing each of them and reflecting on their experiences.
BAM is about helping young boys become men, to decide the values that will help them contribute to society. And it supports these young boys to make decisions about their lives and values, to help them get to where they want to be in 20 years.
Helping young men figure things out in terms of how they feel, why they feel that way and what type of man they want to become - it's not just that it's an honour to be a part, it's also sacred work!
Why do we need Becoming a Man?
BAM (UK) was first established in Lambeth to support mental well-being, reduce the numbers of young people not in education, employment, or training (NEET), and to help address a recent increase in serious youth violence. Although young people taking part in BAM will be identified as ‘in need’ or ‘at risk’, the programme will attempt to nurture individual capacities to reduce risk and need.
At the societal level, independent research of BAM in the US showed a 50% reduction in violent crime, a 35% reduction in overall arrests, and a 19% increase in graduations. BAM in the UK wants to achieve similar results for participants in the UK.
“The support from BAM is allowing [my son] to channel his emotions more effectively.”
Parent of BAM participant
Bringing BAM to the UK
BAM started in Chicago, USA, and was originally developed to tackle violence and school dropouts among boys and young men. In the US, BAM has a Level 4 evidence rating on the Early Intervention Foundation Guidebook, meaning that it has “evidence of a long-term positive impact on child outcomes through multiple rigorous evaluations”. We wanted to see whether BAM could work in the UK, so worked in partnership with Youth Guidance to bring it outside the US for the first time.
Many drivers of youth crime or educational attainment are similar on both sides of the Atlantic. But there are also many things specific to the UK which can impact the young people taking part in BAM. Because of this, we are continually working to adapt the programme's content to a UK context.
We’ve done this by acknowledging the UK's distinct history and the young people's experiences with the systems they live in. This difference will be a function of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic position, geographic location, and more.
Evaluating Becoming a Man
Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) have funded two evaluations of BAM In the UK: a feasibility study, and a separate pilot study.
Both evaluations aimed to find whether BAM was successfully implemented, whether successful implementation may have led to improved social and emotional, behavioural, and academic outcomes, and whether there were any unintended consequences.
With our delivery partners, we’ve been working closely with the evaluation partners, Dartington Service Design Lab, the University of Plymouth and the University of Exeter, to ensure that the local context and lived experience is central to shaping the delivery and evaluation of the programme.
During the feasibility study, the evaluation concluded that:
- Young people perceived that following BAM, they were applying themselves more at school and making more pro-social choices in risky situations.
- Young people reflected that BAM made an important contribution to the development of their values.
- The evaluator judged the quality of delivery to be generally successful. BAM counsellors were perceived to be proficient and skilled in several areas of delivery.
Furthermore, during the pilot study, interviews with counsellors, scholars, parents/carers, and school staff suggested that BAM contributed to the participants’ social and emotional development and responsible decision-making. The BAM participants themselves responded well to the curriculum, finding it fun, engaging, relevant and varied.
Bam has had a huge impact on The London Nautical School, not just the students who were fortunate to be a part of the programme but on the staff and the culture of our school. It has enriched the lives of the young people who were involved and aided their development as people, scholars and members of society. The BAM ‘Family’ have been incredible and inspiring to work with and are skilled practitioners who fit perfectly with the vision of our school.
If you want to learn more about this programme, please contact [email protected] , BAM Scaling and Sustainability Lead.