DOING THE WORK

Founded by Laurence H Johns, DTW brings together ideas, knowledge, experience and practitioners from across the field of men’s personal development.

We work with men who want to understand themselves and change their lives. We educate and train those who want to help other men do the same.

And we have a wider ambition.

To help move the field of men’s personal development forward.

GOOD MEN’S WORK ISN’T HARD TO FIND. KNOWING WHAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU CAN BE

There is no shortage of people doing valuable work with men.

There are established traditions, emerging approaches, experienced practitioners and a growing body of knowledge about how men develop, struggle and change.

But the landscape is fragmented.

Different approaches make different promises. Different practitioners have different beliefs about what men need. And the distinction between a powerful experience and lasting change isn’t always clear.

For the man looking for help, it can be difficult to know where to begin.

For the person working with men, it can be equally difficult to know which approaches to use, when to use them and where their limitations lie.

We think that matters.

Because the wrong work, however well intentioned, can cost a man time, money and sometimes years of his life.

The answer isn’t necessarily more men’s work. It’s understanding what work is needed, and why.

WHAT WE DO

DTW works across four connected areas.

1. PROGRAMMES & EXPERIENCES

Helping men understand themselves, confront what is getting in their way and make meaningful changes in how they live.

From structured personal development programmes to more intensive experiences, the work begins with the individual rather than a prescribed solution.

2. EDUCATION & TRAINING

Developing the knowledge, judgement and practical ability of those who work with men.

Our training draws on different traditions, disciplines and methodologies, combining intellectual understanding with direct experience and practical application.

3. PUBLISHING & THINKING

Exploring the questions that sit beneath men’s lives.

Through writing, books, films and conversations, we examine masculinity, psychology, relationships, responsibility, leadership and the wider forces shaping men’s development.

Not simply to provide answers, but to ask better questions.

4. ADVANCING THE FIELD

Men’s personal development deserves serious thinking, honest examination and better opportunities for practitioners to learn from one another.

We want to bring together different perspectives, challenge assumptions, share what experience has taught us and contribute to the development of better practice.

Not to establish another orthodoxy.

To make the field stronger.

NO SINGLE METHOD HAS ALL THE ANSWERS

Men are not interchangeable.

They have different histories, different circumstances, different responsibilities and different ideas about the lives they want to lead.

It follows that no single approach can be right for everyone.

We draw on psychology, philosophy, anthropology, developmental theory, traditional men’s work and the accumulated experience of practitioners across the field.

We are interested in what works, for whom, under what circumstances and why.

We believe in the value of experience, but experience alone isn’t enough. Ideas should be examined. Methods should be questioned. Practitioners should understand the limits of their own knowledge.

And the needs of the man should always matter more than the practitioner’s attachment to a particular method.

The work should fit the man. Not the man the work.

BUILT ON EXPERIENCE. NOT LIMITED BY IT

Doing the Work was founded by Laurence H Johns following more than 25 years working in men’s personal development.

His experience spans prisons and addiction recovery, private work with founders and senior leaders, international retreats, leadership development and training those who work with men.

That experience provides DTW with its foundations.

But the intention has never been to build an organisation that simply teaches one man’s way of doing things.

It is to bring together good people, serious thinking and effective practice. To preserve what is valuable, question what needs questioning and develop what comes next.

Because work this important should be bigger than any one practitioner.