Paris Alston: This is GBH’s Morning Edition. You may have heard the term toxic masculinity before — the idea that stereotypes of manliness perpetuate things like domination, aggression or homophobia. One Lawrence-based organization is working to combat that by creating a psychologically safe space that promotes the development of healthy masculinity through restorative men’s circles. Michael Bastien is the CEO and co-founder of Brothers in Arms and joins me now. Also with us is Lisa Miller-Gillespie, who’s the co-founder and president of the Greater Lawrence Fellowship of the Arts and who will be working with Michael to put on an arts and awareness festival for Juneteenth this weekend. Good morning to you both.

Lisa Miller-Gillespie: Good morning.

Michael Bastien: Good morning.

Alston: So, Michael, tell us about Brothers in Arms and why you started it.

Bastien: I started it because I needed a safe space to speak myself, right? It started off with a conversation with a relative of mine. He called me and he was telling me about everything he was going through. And simultaneously, I was thinking about what I was going through. And that’s when the eureka moment came, right? And we thought to ourselves, if we’re going through this, imagine how many other men within the community are also going through the same thing.

Alston: And walk us through how these circles work. Is it similar to group therapy?

Bastien: I mean, I never really looked into group therapy, really. But we use a restorative approach which comes with guidelines or ground rules, as we say, one being confidentiality, I statements, one person speaks at a time, no chiming in. And you can opt out at any moment. This really helps create the structure of the group and the guys really respect it, right? If you’re going into the space with no rules, how are you going to respect the space?

Alston: And I have a clip here from your Instagram account from one participant, Daniel, who is talking about his experience.

Daniel: This group has definitely provided a — I wouldn’t say a platform, but an assisted community for that, especially as young men who like myself, I’ve traveled, I moved around. So coming here and being able to build the camaraderie, having that accountability to one another in myself is definitely a way that I’ve grown.

Alston: So tell me more about accountability. What does that look like among the group?

Bastien: The way we start the circles is we’ll ask the guys where they’re at in the current moment. We’ll talk about their goals, their aspirations, but they also talk about where they’re at, and they’ll also talk about what they plan on doing. So all the guys in the circle take note of it. They take note of what they plan on doing. And we have a group chat as well. So we ask the guys to also put in the group chat, like what your goals are for the week or where your goals are for the next two weeks, or just what your goals are in general. And the guys check up. The guys always check up. So we’ll ask. One of the guys in the group chat will be like, hey, did you, follow up on this? Or, hey, how are you doing on this? Or when they see the guys in person every Monday night again, the circles are every Monday night, they’ll ask the guys. And it gives them a chance to really reflect on what they said prior.

Alston: So, Lisa, you were mentioning to me that you and Michael end up in a lot of the same circles together through the work that you both do. Tell me how arts awareness and mental health fold in and contribute to some of this larger ecosystem that so many of us are trying to create in terms of bettering the citizens of our society and improving their mental health.

Miller-Gillespie: Absolutely. So we know that the arts are so powerful when it comes to forming community, telling stories and creating relatability. So our organization, what we’re going to do is basically offer arts classes across various disciplines. And I have — someone explained it to me is, oh my gosh, that’s arts on steroids. And I’m like, yes, because we have a very intentional mental health throughline. We are not therapists, but we are artists. We are creatives. We can all speak to the power of the arts in our own lives. And this connects with what Michael is doing, which I love that he’s doing, because we both know in particular in Black and brown communities, there’s a hesitation to go for therapy. There are just the cultural barriers. There are financial barriers, and that is the thing that we are breaking down by doing things that are outside of the box, so to speak.

Alston: So one way that the two of you will be collaborating is this weekend for your Juneteenth Arts and Awareness festival. Our listeners can’t see you, you are cheering or clapping and your hands in the air right now. What can festival goers expect?

Bastien: There are live performances. We have actors portraying historical figures, abolitionists. We’re going to be for portraying a lot and showing the community a lot of rich Black history, not only like from Lawrence, but around the area in general.

Alston: Well, that is Michael Bastien, who is the CEO and co-founder of Brothers in Arms Means Support Circle, along with Lisa Miller-Gillespie, who is the co-founder and president of the Greater Lawrence Fellowship of the Arts. Thank you both so much.

Miller-Gillespie: Thank you.

Bastien: Thank you.

One Lawrence-based organization, Brothers in Arms Support Circle, is working to combat toxic masculinity — the idea that stereotypes of manliness perpetuate things like domination, aggression or homophobia — by creating a psychologically safe space that promotes the development of healthy masculinity through restorative men’s circles.

This weekend, Brothers in Arms is co-hosting a Juneteenth Arts and Awareness Festival, Saturday from noon to 7 p.m. at Lawrence Common Park. The festival is a collaboration with the Greater Lawrence Fellowship of the Arts.

“There are live performances. We have actors portraying historical figures, abolitionists. We’re going to be for portraying a lot and showing the community a lot of rich Black history, not only like from Lawrence, but around the area in general,” Brothers in Arms CEO and co-founder Michael Bastien told GBH’s Morning Edition co-host Paris Alston.

Brothers in Arms began with a conversation Bastien had with a relative, he said. The relative was talking about everything happening in his life, and Bastien was reflecting on the trouble he was having in his.

“And that’s when the eureka moment came,” Bastien said. “We thought to ourselves, if we’re going through this, imagine how many other men within the community are also going through the same thing.”

Bastien is not a psychologist or trained therapist, and his circles are not group therapy. Instead, they function more as social support networks. They have basic rules, he said: Confidentiality, using ‘I’ statements, one person speaks at a time, no chiming in and participants can opt out at any moment.

“The way we start the circles is we’ll ask the guys where they’re at in the current moment,” Bastien said. “We ask the guys to also put in the group chat, what your goals are for the week or where your goals are for the next two weeks, or just what your goals are in general. And the guys check up. The guys always check up.”

Lisa Miller-Gillespie is the co-founder and president of the Greater Lawrence Fellowship of the Arts. Prior to meeting Bastien, she says the organization has been working to promote mental health through art classes for young adults.

“In particular in Black and brown communities, there’s a hesitation to go for therapy. There are just the cultural barriers. There are financial barriers, and that is the thing that we are breaking down by doing things that are outside of the box, so to speak,” Miller-Gillespie said. “We are not therapists, but we are artists. We are creatives. We can all speak to the power of the arts in our own lives.”

Corrected: June 20, 2024
This caption in this story has been corrected to reflect the correct name of the Greater Lawrence Fellowship of the Arts, and clarify the history of their work.