Raleigh, NC — Journeymen Triangle’s Rites of Passage Adventure Weekend is designed to “compress six months of mentoring into one weekend.” Executive Director Jordan Bowman describes it as a three-day, nature-based rite where teenage boys confront “patterns and behaviors that no longer serve them” and take “their first steps to becoming a man of integrity.”
The Raleigh nonprofit mentors teen boys through intergenerational group mentoring circles and rites of passage experiences that emphasize accountability, emotional maturity and community support, according to the organization.
Bowman, who first entered a similar program at 14 and later co-founded Journeymen Triangle with his father, said Journeymen exists to meet an urgent need. A need that Bowman has watched up close for over 10 years, “Our boys are falling behind,” he said. “Too many are struggling in school, dropping out early, and growing up without supportive male role models. Without fathers or mentors, they are more likely to join gangs, become teenage parents, or drift into isolation. The gap is clear: young men with healthy role models thrive, while those without fall further behind.”
On the weekend, the schedule follows the “hero’s journey” arc, Bowman said. Boys arrive, leave behind familiar routines and step into the woods – “a lot of them haven’t been camping before” – where they camp under tarps, keep overnight fire watch with mentors and face a series of challenges, including a cold plunge. They’re asked to name “the emotional mask that they wear in this world,” consider what’s underneath it and symbolically “give to the fire” whatever is holding them back. “There is masculine challenge and masculine nurturing,” Bowman said. “They’re invited to let go of patterns and behaviors that no longer serve them… and look at what kind of man they want to become.”
Journeymen says Rites of Passage Adventure Weekends (ROPAW) are phone-free and led by community mentors, aiming to help boys “consciously choose a new, healthy adult identity.”
For the fall gathering, Bowman invited Ashanti Branch – founder of The Ever Forward Club and creator of the Million Mask Movement – to work with both mentors and youth. “He flew out from Oakland, California to join us,” Bowman said. “He’s a facilitator… and we’re super excited to have him here to talk about this idea of the mask… the fronts they put up, and maybe what’s on the other side.” Branch led mentor training the first night and then facilitated a mask workshop with the boys: “The trick with the mask is that it keeps you safe. But if you keep it on for too long, you can become it.”
Branch said his organization began as a lunchtime circle during his first year of teaching and now runs programs aimed at keeping students connected to school. “Ever Forward is a youth development and mentoring organization… whose mission is to eliminate the dropout rate,” he said. The Million Mask Movement asks students and adults to anonymously name what they show on the “front of the mask” and what they’re not showing, to reveal common struggles and build empathy. “We’re engaging people from all over the world in self-reflection by taking off the mask,” the club’s materials say.
“Our work… is that all students want to be seen, heard and understood,” Branch said. Without healthy challenge and tools for adventure, “they will make adventure – whether it’s safe, whether it’s healthy, whether it’s good.” He referenced the proverb, “If we don’t initiate the young men, they will burn down the village just to feel the fire.” His hope for boys leaving the weekend is simple: “If a young man comes here… I hope they’ll get that they’re not alone… There is more to me than people can see by looking at me, and there’s more to people than I can see by looking at them.”
Bowman draws a distinction between Journeymen and merit-badge models. “Our organization is more social-emotional,” he said. “We’re asking them to look inside, to touch on and talk about the parts of themselves that maybe they don’t show everyone.” In regular “J-Group” circles – “twice a month… we sit around a fire for two hours and they get real” – teens talk through “the good, the bad and ugly of being a teenager” with trained mentors supporting and facilitating the conversations. On ROPAW weekends, the ratio flips the norm: “There are 29 people here to support nine young men,” Bowman said. “We really want these young men to feel like they’re stepping into a community… who can send them that message, ‘Hey, your pain matters. As we teach you to face that pain, you will learn how that pain can become a gift.”
The work is personal for Bowman. “When I was a teenager, it changed the trajectory of my life,” he said of his first rites weekend. “I was smart, but I was getting in trouble… finding ways to numb out my pain.” Mentors didn’t scold; they asked him what the impact of his decisions were. “They gave me the responsibility to be the author of my own story.”
Both leaders framed the weekend as a counter to isolation and to narrow scripts for masculinity. Branch said many boys are taught to bury emotions until only anger is acceptable, with predictable fallout for schools, families and communities. Bowman emphasized moving from dependence to independence to interdependence: “Being a man in the world is not something that just happens by age. It happens through maturity and self-awareness.”
Journeymen’s program language echoes that arc, aiming to “forge independence, resilience and emotional maturity” by modeling healthy masculinity and “supporting and challenging boys to discover their unique gifts.”
For families and would-be mentors, Bowman’s ask is straightforward. “If there’s anyone else out there who wants to support young men, I invite you to become a mentor, to make a relationship with the teenager in your life,” he said. “Because if they’re not talking with you, they’re getting all their learning and information from the Internet. And I don’t see that working out in our favor right now.”
Those who wish to support Journeymen Triangle’s annual fundraiser can visit Givebutter.com/circleup25
Niko Travis is a dedicated health writer with a passion for providing clear, reliable, and research-backed information about medications and mental health. As the author behind TrazodoneSUC, Niko simplifies complex medical topics to help readers understand the benefits, uses, and potential risks of Trazodone. With a commitment to accuracy and well-being, Niko ensures that every article empowers readers to make informed decisions about their health.
