The Young Man - Old Man Program was introduced in 2009 as one of the many follow up programs on offer to those boys taking part in the Young Men's Program. This follow up involves the boys bringing along a significant male role model in their lives - dad, grandfather, step dad, older brother, uncle - and leading them in a number of activities, including a hike and time in the workshops. Through their time together, they are able to enhance, or improve on their relationships with the guidance of our Narrative-qualified staff and with the influence of the natural environment.

The effectiveness of this program has been high and this continues to be very popular with the young blokes and, as demonstrated by the quotes below, with their 'old blokes':

“I’m not good at public speaking, I’ve always been afraid of making an idiot of myself, a man’s worst enemy is being afraid of showing himself for who he really is, but you gotta step up to the plate, its time for f**king me to grow up… This is one of the only chances I’ve had to open up.”   

“Usually you can’t even get him out of bed for (footy, soccer etc) on Saturday mornings but he bounced out of bed this morning ready to come back up to Evolve's Typo Station, so you must be doing something right up here.”

 “I want to take away good memories out of this, having fun, caring. I know personally that I’m going to remember this forever, the good memory that he chose to go hiking with me, not that he yelled at me all the time, photos can fade but not the memories.”

“I’ve realised that I’ve not spent anywhere near enough time with him – and that is going to change straight away…”

“...for a dad, the relationship starts in a way before he is even born – so much that happens before that effects his life that he doesn’t know about.”