In-Groups are regular meetings which comprise the core of Journeymen’s group-mentoring approach. Each group strives for a 1:2 ratio of mentors to mentees (or “J-men”), and features team-building activities, discussion topics, games, and personal sharing, building strong, lasting bonds among mentors and J-men and empowering J-men to develop emotional intelligence, accountability and self-confidence. J-men are encouraged to take on leadership responsibilities within the group.

For millenia, our ancestors marked young men’s transition into adulthood through well-planned and challenging rites of passage. But these initiations were never just a formality or a threshold: they were tests which put the young men in uniquely challenging situations where they had to learn about their inner strengths and gifts in order to succeed. What’s more—they infused these young men’s natural drive for freedom and risk with a sense of personal responsibility. Journeymen’s Rites of Passage Adventure Weekend (ROPAW) is hosted twice each year as a modern-day opportunity for young men to find personal empowerment, self-knowledge, and to let go of what no longer serves them so that they can grow into the men they want to be.

Combining service-learning opportunities, outdoor recreation, skills-building workshops and good old-fashioned play, these weekend activities give J-men an opportunity to have fun with mentors while learning more about their community and discovering new ways to apply themselves in the “real world.”