What is MKP?

The ManKind Project (MKP) is mentioned throughout this website because this organization has been a huge part of my life for almost 20 years. Since its inception in the mid-1980s, MKP has been known for its New Warrior Training Adventure (NWTA), a 48 hour introduction into a new and more mature way of being a man.

The NWTA is conducted in many countries and many languages around the world. It is led by men who have been trained extensively and recertified every two years by their peers. Each NWTA consists of one certified leader and two or more certified co-leaders These men receive a small stipend for the work they do to organize and lead each NWTA.

On each NWTA training, there will be between 16 and 50 “initiates” who pay to attend the weekend. There will also be between 20 and 60 staff members, men who have completed their NWTA and returned to help support the process again… and again. All of these men pay for the privilege of volunteering their time.

As of September, 2020, I have staffed the NWTA 49 times.

After the NWTA, men are offered additional training that includes:

• Core Circle Skills (formerly known as the Primary Integration Training)
• I-Group Facilitation Skills
• Staff Training 1 and 2
• Leader Training 1, 2 and 3

I have taken almost all of these trainings and many more.

I also developed and led the Primary Integration Training (PIT) and its revision, the Core Circle Skills.  At last count around 40 times.

I have stepped onto Leader Track three times and “busted” myself off three times for various reasons, the biggest being that I did not feel drawn to becoming an NWTA leader. My heart has always been in the smaller and more intimate trainings that immediately followed the NWTA.

I-Groups

After completing their NWTA, and often even prior to attending their NWTA, men are invited to “sit in circle” and go deep. These circles are called “I-Groups” which is short for “Integration Groups”. These groups are affiliated with MKP, but there is no cost to join an I-Group unless that group needs to raise money to cover the cost of their meeting space. Usually, men meet in the homes of one of their I-Group members, or (as has now become the “new normal”), online using Zoom.

I-Groups are where the real work happens. We use a structured process to create a “safe container”, i.e. a space that is emotionally safe enough for men to become open, honest and even vulnerable with each other. Then the men in each I-Group faciliate each other using simple tools we taught them in the Core Circle Skills and the I-Group Facilitation Training.

The transformation that happens in these I-Groups is amazing to behold. I started an I-Group in Bellingham, Washington, where I have lived since 2002. That I-Group is still going strong. I now attend several I-Groups every week using Zoom.