Important information about courses run by GMFA

We thought it may be useful to provide some other information about GMFA courses, based on the types of questions men have asked in the past.

Lots of men wonder what actually happens on our courses and how they are created. What happens on a course depends on the subject matter being covered. Generally we use exercises and activities to help you build your skills and knowledge around the subject matter of the course as well as help you explore any thoughts or feelings you have about it. Exercises and activities usually involve talking in pairs or small groups and feeding those things back to the larger group and the facilitators. All of the courses are developed by the volunteers and Project Managers and approved by our Chief Executive.

To help participants feel safe and relaxed, at the start of the course we build what we call a ‘group agreement’ about how the group will work together that will be acceptable to everyone. The final session of the course usually looks over what you feel you have learnt and how you think you may use that in your life.

How much personal information you share about yourself during the discussions is entirely up to you. You are encouraged to participate in the course as much as possible and no-one is going to make you do anything that you do not want to or feel uncomfortable about. On some of our courses like the Bondage and SM courses there are demonstrations of skills, techniques and equipment and if you are on the Assertiveness course you’ll spend time practising the basic assertiveness skills. Even if you feel you know a lot about the subject matter it’s rare that anyone knows everything, so it’s likely that you’ll learn something you’ll find useful. Just to be clear, sex does not happen on any GMFA course and you don’t need to wear any particular clothing. It’s best to wear clothes that you will feel comfortable in all day. Jeans and a tee shirt, shirt or jumper is great.

We normally book between 12 and 25 men on to the courses we run and we try to use venues in Central London as much as possible to make access easy for everyone. If you are planning on driving to the venue it’s unlikely that there will be free parking nearby, so it’s probably better (unless you have a disability permit for your car) to use public transport. There will be information at the venue as to which room the course you are booked on is running in. We also try to make sure that all of the venues that we use have full access. Unfortunately we are unable to provide lunch on any of our courses. There is a break for lunch (and other breaks in the day) so that you can go out and buy lunch, or eat the food you have brought with you. Tea, coffee and water are normally provided at the start of the day.

We ask for a certain amount of information when you book your place on a GMFA course. We need a name, address and postcode to know who you are and that you live in a London Primary Care Trust. It also gives us a way to contact you if all else fails. Of course, if you ask us not to send anything to that address then we won’t, although we need an alternative way to contact you if this is the case. If you have a valid email address we will use this to send you the booking information for the course. A daytime telephone number is essential, in case the details you’ve given don’t work, or we need to contact you urgently about the course you are booked on. It’s best to give the number that you would prefer to be contacted at, whether that is your mobile, work or home number. We ask for your ethnic background and date of birth to monitor who we are serving, and to help us make decisions regarding the marketing of the courses. Access needs are important for us to know as we try to accommodate all of our potential participants’ needs on the courses. All of the information that you give is confidential and will not be shared, sold or given out to any third parties.

We require that you book a place rather than just turn up at the venue so that we know how many men want to attend the course. This means that we know we have enough participants so the course runs well and not too many so that it becomes unmanageable. We ask you to confirm your booking for this reason and also so that we know you’ve received the information.

You can usually book on to more than one course at once as long as the courses aren’t on the same date or overlap. If you want to go on the Assertiveness Course or the Stop Smoking course then we will only accept a booking for you for that one course. This is to allow you to concentrate on that course and get the best result you can from attending it. You can’t usually attend a course more than once as we prefer men who haven’t been on the course to get the place. If you have been on the Stop Smoking course and failed in your quit attempt then it is possible to attend the course again when you are ready to do so.

If you book online but don’t provide valid contact details including an address in London and a phone number we can reach you on, we may withdraw your place on the course. We need to make sure that the bookings we receive are genuine and that places go to men who want to attend.

Some participants want to come to the course with a friend or partner and that’s OK as long as he wants to come and there is a place available. He will need to book his own place on the course as we don’t take ‘third party’ bookings. If, after you’ve booked a place, you find you are unable to attend, then please let us know as soon as possible so that we can make that place available for someone else. We can try to offer you a place on a future course if that’s what you want.

We do get enquiries about booking a place on a course from men who live outside London. The funding that pays for GMFA courses comes from the London Primary Care Trusts who fund access to the courses for gay men who live in their area, so that’s why we ask for a London address. If you live outside London we may be able to offer you a place if there is one available. It is best to call us in the week before the course date on 020 7738 3712 to enquire about available places on the course you are interested in, and if there is a place we will consider your booking.

Return to GMFA courses page.