Our Vision: A world where empowered queer men reach their potential through equitable opportunities.
Mission Statement
We support queer men aged 25 to 65 who are often neglected by mainstream gay culture and face challenges like mental health issues, anxiety, body dysmorphia, loneliness, and abuse. Many have histories of sexual abuse, drug abuse, relational harm, and involvement with statutory services.
Our mission is to help these men bridge the gap to mainstream society by ensuring they have equal opportunities at home, in education, work, and the community.
Values
Collaborative: We co-develop programs and seek strong partnerships.
Evidence-Based: We build trust in our sector.
Masterful: We strive for excellence and share our knowledge.
Solutions-Focused: We innovate to achieve long-term goals.
Tenacious: We advocate for change fearlessly.
Our History
In 2022, Big Bros was established by a group of men who combined their diverse professional and personal experiences to create a new model for healthy male relationships. Their goal was to address the needs of queer men experiencing loneliness, disillusionment, and social exclusion. To achieve this, the founders organized an occasional event that has expanded from a small online gathering into medium and large workshops and regulay events with up to 200 participants. From these efforts, Big Bros’ founding programs were developed.
By 2025, Big Bros aims to register as a Charitable Interest Company (CIC) and gain recognition in the charitable sector. Currently, we offer two core educational empowerment programs, co-curated and delivered alongside our Big Bros initiatives. These programs focus on empowering individuals through their journey from disillusionment to self-fulfillment and authentic identities. We equip them with tools and skills to overcome trauma, build resilience, improve mental well-being, and live free from abuse, enabling healthy relationships and sexual dynamics within the community.
At the center of our work, we prioritize positive relationships. As a result, peer mentoring and therapeutic mentoring are integrated into all aspects of our programs. Our programs are based on three pillars: promoting health and well-being, supporting sexual education and self-actualization, and fostering healthy relationships. Guided by our commitment to comprehensive pedagogy, we have tailored our programs to meet the unique needs of queer men affected by trauma at every stage of their journey.
Our Diversity
While Big Bros does not exclusively work with people of color a large proportion of our beneficiaries come from global majority communities. Being led by two POC queer men intrinsically makes our programs culturally relevant and celebrate the rich diversity within our community. We are also aware of the impact of the lack of access to spaces and places in London and as such we organize activities in aspirational spaces to enhance our sense of belonging and to expand our worldview.
Our Impact
This year 84% of the queer men who we’ve worked with have reported an increase in self-confidence and the ability to to feel connected with the community. This is a significant increase compared to 69% in 2023 and 20% in 2022.
This year, we plan to partner with others to provide interventions for breaking the intergenerational cycle of trauma among queer men living in the UK. With our new Big Bros Haus workshop space in Dalston, we aim to increase participation in queer venues, events, and safe spaces in North London, especially in Islington and Hackney councils.
The hybrid model we developed during the COVID-19 lockdowns has allowed us to meet this need by providing virtual connectivity. We can now deliver some of our qualifications online and hold regular mentoring sessions for individuals across the UK and other countries without geographical limitations. This has significantly enhanced our ability to incorporate diverse perspectives and expand community awareness. Additionally, it has increased the adoption of various practices in sexual health and healing, particularly those from Asia.
Our Programmes
- Dynamic resilience building workshops
- One-on-one and small group advice
- Queer Health, wellbeing, & sexual healing and education
- Healthy relationships education
- Bi self-actualisation workshops
Our measurement and evaluation tools record and review the development and progress of the Big Bros, enabling us to work with them longitudinally, and to ensure that as he progresses he has access to the right advice at the right time.