The Men’s Room – What stops us from being well?

Aims of the practice and description of participants Service users (mostly men but also female and transsexuals) and stakeholders of The Men’s Room (such as LGBT Foundation) which is an organization focusing on men’s sexual health, including complex needs such as homelessness, substance addiction and sex worker rights. Participants are invited to think about the things that can stop them from being well, whether physically or mentally.

Resources, Materials needed -	Comfortable and quiet places allowing participants to record personal stories. -	Phones, tablets and internet.

Duration 1 year including 9 workshops/events.

Step-by-step - what has to be done?

An art exhibition (to be led by another Phase 2 artist), informed by the findings of the Phase 1 stories A video montage showing a collection of stories raw together and screened as part of an “event of celebration” An edited soundscape of the story clips to accompany/be incorporated into the art exhibit (Phase 2) and legislative theater performance (Phase 3) The practice is based on three phases allowing to build confidence of the participants through small step-by-step tasks, create engagement between them and also foster a relationship of trust between them and facilitators: 1.	Gathering and curation/analysis of stories. During it, participants recorded quotes, stories and voices in order to upload them on entitled The Institute of Community Reporter website. This was a good manner to see how their individual stories were forming part of a larger online archive. Furthermore, screening examples of other’s stories on the website was very helpful way of getting the participants to understand and appropriate the method. 2.	Artistic interpretation of findings and exhibition. 3.	Legislative theatre.

During these steps, a various range of activities were proposed such as a Q&A session, peer review, demonstrations, group feedback, co-curation of best practices guides, icebreakers, small and full group discussion, flip charts, “Best practice” agreements, audio and video recording techniques, peer review and watching in order to analyze examples of other stories.

Facilitators must keep in mind that working with a group of vulnerable people requires a certain flexibility and some additional “top-up” support sessions to help keep up momentum and engagement within the group. The practice also requires to offer an opportunity for extra storytelling recap sessions to help give an extra support to those who are not able to come in a session.

Learning Outcomes - which skills are addressed? -	Ability to be responsible and ethical when gathering/telling stories. -	Capturing video and/or audio using accessible mobile technology. -	Self-confidence.

How do you check the outcomes are reached? Use by the participants of storytelling and gathering methods in order to talk about and share their lived experiences on a global and online platform.