“ King, Warrior, Magician, Lover:
The Chiron Centre (Liverpool) Is a Safe Space for the Wellbeing of Adult Men ”

The purpose of the Chiron Centre (Liverpool) is to promote awareness amongst adult men of their responsibility for their own wellbeing and that of their community. Our aims are to promote the health and wellbeing of men suffering from sickness, mental, emotional or physical (in particular but not exclusively) through:

1. The provision of training in life skills
2. The provision of support for ex-offenders and recovering substance misusers
3. The promotion of spiritual wellbeing

Our aim is to promote the single most common denominator between all major religions: meditation. Our sanctuary creates a non-denominational sacred space in the inner city for men to find sanctuary.

Anonymity

Anonymity is the spiritual root of our work. The address of the Chiron Centre (Liverpool) is confidential to protect the interests of our clients. Some of them need a place of refuge (from violence, domestic or otherwise); others prefer to remain anonymous for their own reasons.

The Centre is run along the lines of an inner-city monastery. The environment created is for the participants to learn the language of stillness and inner stability; it is a drug and alcohol-free environment, with no television, internet, music systems or any other factors that encourage obsessive-compulsive behaviour.

We believe that now is not the time for despair and fear. Now is the time to rejoice, for, as human beings, we have the power of change to manifest world peace. As Alice Walker said, “We are the ones we have been waiting for.”

• In 1995, 15,000 school-age children were home educated in the U.K; now the figure has grown to 50,000 (Mail on Sunday, 18.11.07).
• The natural exuberance of boys and young men is being squashed by the use of drugs like Ritalin. The rise of ADHD in boys (boys are three times morel likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls) has meant that more and more parents are using drugs to keep them quiet. 90% of children on Ritalin are boys. According to one parent, “Initially, I trusted the doctors. But really all they are doing is turning these children into zombies” (Daily Mail 19.11.07).
• Ritalin is a methylphenidate which acts in a similar fashion to cocaine (by stimulating the central nervous system which can have a calming and focussing effect according to research). The long term effects of taking Ritalin are stunted growth in children, heart problems, insomnia, weight problems and even death. According to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, there have been 51 deaths in the U.K. amongst children and adults on Ritalin since 1999 (Daily Mail 19.11.07).
• Stress is the silent killer that causes fathers to abandon their children, destroys marriages, leads to drug and alcohol addiction, gambling, spiritual bankruptcy, depression and suicide.
• The ancient tradition of circumcising children is child abuse. Worldwide, this operation is usually carried out without anaesthetic. Each year around 13,300,000 boys (2,000,000 girls) are mutilated sexually. In the U.S., around 3,000 baby boys are circumcised each day. Men have reported a 75% reduction in sensation after circumcision and the feeling that neither their body nor their sexuality belongs to them, but to the tribe. Many men suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder because of this mutilation; some have the operation reversed when adult (www.norm.org National Organisation of Restoring Men, Circumcision Exposed, Billy Ray Boyd).
• As recently as ten years ago, people would communicate directly, face to face. Now, more and more people are using the barrier of the internet and mobile phones instead.
• Even as recently as twenty years ago, children used to play freely outdoors. They would interact daily with other children, adults, animals and Nature. This interaction would teach them valuable social communication skills that many children today lack.