SERVICES WE PROVIDE:
Brothers Like Me emphasizes that you are not in this alone. We want to help you to learn that you can deal with and respond to your anger in a healthy way. We want to teach you to be more self-aware and to understand that you might not be able to control every situation, but you can always control how you respond to it. You can transform every negative thought you have into a positive action plan.
“I’m not a therapist.” – Andrew L Gardner, Founder of Brothers Like Me
I am a certified anger management and domestic violence specialist who got his certifications through the National Anger Management Association, which uses various techniques to educate on both subjects. I also have an Associate’s Degree in Theater and Arts, so I will be using trained actors in various group settings to demonstrate conflict de-escalation skills and to interact with our group clients to help them understand the bigger picture when dealing with their anger.
This organization impacts black and brown communities by directly speaking to one of the main causes of division, which is poor anger management leading to avoidable interpersonal conflict. Anger is a human emotion. Mismanaging anger puts black men behind bars and breaks up the black family structure. When we black men don’t understand how to control and respond to our anger, it also can cause internal conflict in the black community. Many black men and black women don’t know how to properly resolve conflict, and we end up to resorting to violence with one another. We give men the tools to fine tune their emotional resilience by learning conflict resolution and best practices that can keep more of our black men out of jail, reduce the killing of each other and also increase respect towards the women and children in our households, community and lives.
I can speak to emotional support because I remember the dark days where I let my anger get the best of me and ruin important relationships. I remember being judged for the mistakes I made. I remember how alone I felt and the feeling of mistrust toward everybody. That’s why Brothers Like Me was created. My organization is a judgement-free zone. We build trust by being open and honest with each other. We are here to uplift each other and hold ourselves and each other accountable for our actions. We will build everlasting relationships with each other and continue to help build up the black community, along with other minority communities and the people we love of various backgrounds. When black men heal ourselves and our families, the whole world benefits.
Our domestic violence curriculum will teach you about the PA laws since our foundation is based in Pennsylvania. But if you live in a different state, research your state’s laws on domestic violence so you can have a better understanding of policies there. This is important because you will understand the consequences of the law if you break them, and give you language for advocating for not only yourself but others who find themselves in a domestic violence situation.
Examine your past while taking 100% responsibility for the present. People who commit acts of domestic violence have themselves often suffered violence as a child or witness it between their parents. This causes learned behavior over the years that transfers into their adult years. While this may be true, and you were affected by domestic violence growing up. Our goal is to help you understand that you must take responsibility for your life now.
Change the way you think to eliminate domestic abuse. Our goal here is to teach you how to manage your expectations by lining them up with the real world that we live in, not the perfect world that we tend to create in our mind.
You must admit and accept that you committed an act of domestic violence, such as: shoving, verbal abuse, physical fighting, restraining, threatening, all against your partner. There are many possible reasons that someone might commit an act of domestic violence. Our goal is to help you figure out why you have done so at least once, a few times, or often. We are a No-judgement zone, but we are about truth and responsibility. Relationship accountability and trust start with self-accountability and social accountability.
Fair fighting/ conflict resolution. Fair fighting is one of the best tools that we can teach our clients. Because nobody in the world agrees on everything so conflict is destined. The goal with fair fighting tactics is to help our clients to learn to say what’s on their mind while keeping their emotions in check, being able to control their tone of voice, choice of words and actions.
How does one forgive himself and others? Our goal is to help you forgive yourself by helping you understand that when you forgive yourself about your own mistakes and wrong doings, it helps create the breakthrough that you have been looking for.
Emotional intelligence is defined here as the ability to recognize other people’s emotions (empathy) as well as one’s own. Our goal here is to educate you, your family, and your significant other, on the many aspects of emotional intelligence.
As a valuable community member who, by his increased self-awareness and self-control, makes stronger families, neighborhoods and communities.
Andrew L. Gardner III (Certified Anger Management and Domestic Violence Prevention Specialist; Associate of Arts in Communication, Theatre and the Arts) is Founder and President of the innovative nonprofit organization Brothers Like Me. Since October 2020, Andrew has presented interdisciplinary workshops where he teaches solutions for men who struggle with self-regulation and de-escalation. Andrew helps reduce intimate partner violence by building up men who learn accountability and empathy in hands-on workshops and courses for various audiences. But all the moments leading to this moment weren’t good ones.
As Andrew came into his own, he picked up the abusive traits of his father. It was behavior he had learned throughout the years. Many of the skills for dealing with anger – constructive and destructive – are learned in childhood. Of course, there are the feelings, as well. Andrew was never able to forgive his father or his mother because he felt like they both abandoned him. Sometimes in life you can become the things you don’t forgive. But this behavior caused Andrew a lot of pain. He destroyed relationships, lost job opportunities, and lost a lot of money throughout the years, until he got tired and stopped blaming other people for his misfortunes.
Besides the Rescuer part of the Triangle, Andrew experienced being a victim and an abuser. He found himself struggling to get help. He remembers how it felt not wanting to get help at certain points in his life, because of the fear of being judged, thinking that nobody would want to help him due to his past. It was hard to find a program for abusers. There were no walk-up rehabilitation programs for abusers. This led to an important question:
Where was the help for self-aware people who wanted help before things went too far?
We would like to petition for your support of the community to fund our annual operations, curriculum development, and training budget. We invite your support so that we can continually improve the services that we provide through the following strategic goals.
Location | Ardmore, Pa 19003
Phone | 732-903-4139
Email | forbrotherslikeme@gmail.com
Monday - Friday - 9am to 5pm
Saturday & Sunday 9am to 1pm
Note: All Commercial Holidays are Applicable