LIFE RAFT is an unofficial continuation of the Men’s Talking Group from meetup.com, originally led by Umer Iqbal. Specifically providing a safe space for men to share openly and have meaningful conversations that support personal growth and healing, LIFE RAFT maintains its parent group’s goals by fostering the sort of community where men can connect, offer support and help each other become better men.
SIGN UP
If you know of any other men who could benefit from this recurring virtual (and occasionally in-person in the Boston metro area) meetup, please direct them to our contact form where they can leave their email address. Email information captured will not be used for any marketing purposes.
SUPPORT GROUP SESSIONS
At this time, Life Raft video call sessions are Wednesday nights at 6 – 7pm, US Eastern time and conducted via Google Meet. In the future, additional sessions (either run in parallel or occupying a different time entirely) may be spun up in response to an increase in membership numbers to better provide participants with sufficient Open Floor opportunities within the time available. While it’s not required to attend every session, please RSVP. Sessions will remain on the calendar as a standing, regular event regardless of the number of RSVPs received.
Safe Space Commitment
Each video call proceeds with the understanding that all participants agree to session confidentiality as well as maintaining mutual respect, trust, as well as a no-judgement zone. To that end, having cameras on for the duration of the video call is strongly encouraged. Please note that confidentiality can/will be broken in situations where someone’s personal safety is at serious risk.
Start Time
Sessions will begin as scheduled but, as a courtesy to others, may be delayed until at least 3 members (including the session host) show up. If after 15 minutes from the start of the scheduled session there is only one person in the call, the remainder of the session will be canceled and will reconvene the following week.
Session Format
Typically, video conferencing sessions will observe the following order of events:
Round Table Check-In
One at a time, each participant will provide a brief description of their general condition in a couple sentences.
Open Floor
Taking turns, participants may volunteer to “have the floor” and share what is on their mind.
When a participant has the floor (i.e., the Speaker), it would be helpful to clarify whether or not they are:
- simply looking to be heard (with the occasional clarifying questions allowed)
- asking for solutions or input from the others
Please keep interruptions to a minimum, respecting that the Speaker has the floor until they voice that they feel complete and/or feel heard. The next volunteer then has the floor.
In the interest of time restrictions, please keep conversations relevant to the point of this support group. Socialization and off-topic chatter should occur either before the Round Table Check-Ins or during the Housekeeping & All Other Business portions of the call.
Housekeeping & All Other Business
Ideally, the final five or so minutes of the schedule time will cover any administrative, infrastructure and planning matters this group may have.
Note Capturing
As a convenience to everyone, the Session Host (or another volunteer) will follow-up with an email sent to all members via the Google Groups mailing list with any content (e.g., notes, links, book recommendations, etc.) dropped into the video call’s text chat as well as a list of that particular session’s attendees.
EMAIL LIST
LIFE RAFT makes use of a private Google Groups mailing list for its in-group communications. If you would like to be part of the mailing list, please use our contact form and let us know.