Danny & Gary have been friends for years.
Danny loved what he did at work, but shared with Gary that he also wanted to experience something like it but on a ‘deeper level’.
Soon after that conversation, this video landed in Gary’s inbox:
It had a huge impact on Gary.
He shared it immediately with Danny and asked…
“Why don’t we put our good friends together in the woods and ask some of these questions and see what happens?”
That’s when Good Souls was born.
A supportive community of men who share, connect and grow together.
Being part of Good Souls is not a substitute for professional mental health services. Some of us are experienced facilitators, but we are not professional Psychologists or Counsellors.
You don’t have to have ‘a problem’ to come to a Good Souls event. You can come to listen. You can come to help others.
Attending a Good Souls event and joining our friendly community is by invitation.
We meet in nature.
(This is why we think meeting in nature is important).
We talk.We listen.We share.
We value each others as individuals and embrace the diverse life experiences and personalities in the group.
When we meet, phones go off and we introduce each other by asking two questions:
1.) Who are you?
(Specifically we ask you not to mention what you do for a living. You are not your job).
2.) Why have you come here today?
There are three core ‘principles’ for everyone who attends:
We respect each other’s privacy — these gatherings are held in confidence. We need to feel safe and feel we can trust each other. We respect that some people may explore and share sensitive experiences and ideas. Conversations often continue after the event (when pennies drop) which help us grow, however, we need to seek permission from other individuals if we want to share stories.
We all share responsibility — Danny & Gary help facilitate but they want to join in too! So ‘responsibility’ for the group and the event lies with the group. We look after each other. We support each other at the events, (and even more so after events).
We are open — this is your chance to say what you want and be open; if you feel you want to. We are also open to different viewpoints. However, we don’t always agree, and thats a good thing! Rich conversations often emerge from different viewpoints.
Next, we ask the group to think of questions individually. It’s called ‘Sit Spot’. It goes like this:
Question to everyone: Is there an issue/something on your mind currently that you (maybe) don’t have an outlet for or forum to discuss? Something about life/your life. Can you formulate that subject into a question that could be shared to encourage discussion? Something that, by sharing, might bring growth to you or others.
After some solitude and thinking time everybody comes back and places their question in a jar. Nobody puts their name on the questions, they are anonymous.
We then randomly pick a question and discuss them one at a time, together.
Before we all start to chat about the question, we say:
Answer and share your thoughts if you wish, or… keep it to yourself, ‘pass’ if you wish, or sit it out. There are no ‘correct answers’. We are not looking for polished answers. It’s a safe space to talk and stop talking whenever suits you.
If the discussion around your question goes in a direction that you didn’t imagine that’s fine. Be mindful that in this space, exploring and sharing, you might find your greatest lessons and growth.
We love questions. Good questions often open the door to deeper discussions.
When we get together, it can be ‘deep’ and ‘profound’ at times, but we also just chat and have a bloody good giggle! Proper belly laughs. It’s great to have that fun element too, so it isn’t ‘serious’ all the time.
After meeting in the woods, you can choose to continue conversations as a group or smaller offshoot groups by phone, email, on our WhatsApp group or face to face; we believe that meeting in nature is best.
We aim to support each other to be better versions of ourselves.
Finally, our vision is that we want to give this Good Souls thing away, so more men can meet in nature and share, connect and grow together. If you’d like to set up your own Good Souls men’s circle, wherever you are in the world, please read our “How To” page or get in touch. We’d be happy to share our experiences and to help guide you to make it happen.