Primal Instincts
Founded in 2023 Primal Instincts is all about helping men.
We provide safe spaces for men to come and be among other men. Every man is welcome.
The River Dip is the most popular event we host, 6 am every Saturday men meet and take a dip in the cold water of the River Severn.
Every Sunday at 8 am we host a Walk 'n' Talk in Telford Town Park.
Each Tuesday and Friday at 5 am is the Wrekin Challenge and Share.
Tuesday at 7 pm is our Online session
Wednesday night is all about our powerful Talking Circle.
For more information about each of our regular events head over to our events section.
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Our Founding Members
Lee, Ricky and Chris are the founding members of Primal Instincts.
They came together with a vision to prevent men from struggling in life, each of them at some point had suffered and they were all in agreement that there has to be more to life.
Lee Stevens was born and raised in Telford, having forged a successful MMA career that led him to gold medal success, and an Amateur British Title, Lee found himself struggling with anxiety and depression which could lead to violent outbursts.
Ricky was raised in Malta where he played football at a semi-professional level, he moved to the UK at the age of 11. Ricky's love for football led him to become a part of the wolfpack. Sadly Ricky suffered from long-term depression and symptoms of bipolar.
Chris Booth was born in Portsmouth but raised in Telford as a young man he was a promising boxer. At the age of 15 due to his consistently poor environment found himself in and out of jail. Chris suffered from anxiety, depression, ADHD, and PTSD for many years.
For more information on our founding members and the men behind Primal Instincts please visit our Who we are page
How it all began...
I was lost in myself, taking drugs and drinking. Not carrying myself as the bloke I saw myself as. I lived my life on social media and not in the real world.
Seeing gym quotes and watching movie scenes I fantasised thinking 'Yeah, i'm like that!' while racking up lines and opening bottles of vodka. Shutting the real world out.
I reached out to Lee Stevens, at first he was a bit off with me, he'd heard it all before. He wouldn't even pick me up for the gym, I was walking some mornings at 03:30am to get there just before 05:00am. I started doing well and then i'd slip up, go back into myself.
Then I found myself going to the Mandem meet up with some Wolverhampton men that I knew. I did a cold water dip and I was hooked. I thought being from Telford I would just use the River Severn. Me and Rash would go and I said 'You know what, I'm getting in'. Then it just became a thing.
I liked the feeling of the cold water, it helped me forget things that were effecting me. I started to go down regularly on my own, some times at 04:30am. Others began to join me then Lee came and that opened the floodgates.
I reached out to Chris Booth, he also came to the river and the three of us would just talk about helping local men. While working on our own individual battles we wanted to make a difference.
Written by Ricky Briffa