Many projects focus on women, but in our society there are also men in a vulnerable position. They often came here in their early years to work, lost that work in one way or another and ended up in a downward spiral. They have a loss of self-esteem, feel that they are not taken seriously and feel shame. They become a single story. We have started a project within Golden Men to let these men discover their own story and to show them that they are not just this single story, but that their personality consists of so much more.
We work with the men on their own story and make sure that several stories are shared, around the theme of pride. The men are briefly released from their single story and feel liberated.
The single story is closely linked to – and can easily lead to – victimisation. The moment you reduce yourself to one identity or one story and start behaving like that, you quickly lose contact with others. If you then connect with others who limit themselves just as much, an ingroup soon develops that only opposes the outgroup: the others. Especially if this ingroup belongs to a minority group, a feeling of being ignored may arise. Victimisation then lurks. But good rarely comes from victimization. From strength it does. We make the men aware of the danger of the single story and show them how easy it is to use stories to address other layers of their identity, away from victimisation. In doing so, we contribute to strengthening people and thus to personal growth.
– activate men and make them employable again on the labour and volunteer market
– strengthening men and contributing to personal growth
The Storytelling Centre Amsterdam organises storytelling workshops and trainings for companies, civil society organisations, NGO’s and for you.
Interested in what we could do for you, your company or organisation?
For you as a human
(in dutch, but possible in english)
For companies & organisations
