Creating Spaces For Connection: The Men’s Shed Movement

A sponsored shed is like a Senior Activity Center that gives a Shed space in their facility. I’ve spoken to a number of these entities. These centers have more programs for women than men, so when we present the idea, the concept of a Men’s Shed, they see it as value added: “Wow, we can actually get guys in here to do stuff, because we don’t usually get that.” So you get a room, you meet there, you figure out what you guys want to do. Two-thirds of the sheds in the US are sponsored sheds, maybe a little more than that, because it’s the easiest route – they give you space, and the members support the Senior Center.

The Senior Center might say, “Guys, can you guys change the doorknobs down the hall?” Or, “Hey, we need a park bench outside, sanded and painted.” “Yeah, we’ll do that.”

There’s a lot of benefit in those activities.

They’re doing it together. Guys who would be at home watching television are now together. They’re making new friendships, and they’re not as lonely. Our saying is, “Men don’t talk face to face. They talk shoulder to shoulder.” 

How did you get involved in this movement?

In 2014, I was doing some things in British Columbia and heard about this Men’s Shed concept. I helped start the second Shed in Canada in 2014 that is a flagship shed today. You wouldn’t believe how integrated they are with the community.

The reason I [brought it to the United States] is back in 2014, there was a fellow in that town in British Columbia who was clinically depressed. He never came out of his house. Then about two months in, I see him in the Shed. He’s walking up to me. I thought we were going to shake hands and talk about the weather. He came up to me, he hugged me and he said, “Thank you for giving me my life back.” I almost fell on the floor. 

About two years passed before we got Men’s Sheds going over here in the US, but that tape kept running in my brain. Just to see that one fellow, how much it affected him, really resonated with me.

There must be so many stories like that.

I visited a shed in Minnesota in 2019. Those fellas adopted a park, and they were going out to this park. So I said,”I’ll go with you.” There were 15 or 16 guys, and they go to this park in Minneapolis, and the park was in perfect shape. There’s a leaf here, there’s a stick there, and they’re going through it because they adopted the park and they go out to clean it. But this was another moment that I realized, these guys couldn’t have cared less if they were in that park selling ice cream or rotating tires on a car. The fact that they were together and enjoying each other’s company was huge. It was palpable. I mean, I could feel it. They were so happy to be together. And I’m like, gosh, I’m so lucky to be here and to see this and to feel it was amazing. It was one of those magical moments in my life.

There’s a fellow in the Florida Shed who lost his wife. They were married 45 or 50 years. He told the leader down there, “If it wasn’t for your Shed, I wouldn’t be here anymore.” 

The Men’s Shed movement is relatively small in the United States compared to some of the other 15 countries.

Yes. We have 38 Sheds in the United States. If you look at Ireland, Ireland is about the same size as Minnesota, and in Minnesota we have five or six Sheds right now. In Ireland, they have 450 Sheds. In England, they have 500 Sheds. If you go to one of those countries and you start talking about Men’s Sheds, somebody’s going to say, “Oh yeah, it’s down the street two blocks, and then one block over.” If you bring up Men’s Sheds in the United States, you get the deer in the headlight look. We’re trying to fix that. 

How are you trying to fix it?

I consider Sheds a bright spot in an ever darkening world. We know it’s changing lives. It’s breaking the cycle of social isolation and loneliness. We know this because we are communicating with our people all the time. We have monthly Shedders meetings. Last month, one of our board members who is a specialist in suicide gave a talk, which was very impactful. This month, we had a specialist come in to speak about dementia.

Men’s Sheds are helping people, and every day it’s a challenge. We’re pushing a giant rock up a very steep hill. Last year we attended four national conferences, one was the American Society of Aging, and out of that, three Sheds started in North Carolina. We just finished a conference with 350 doctors who love the idea of Sheds. They can give prescriptions, but they’d rather do natural things to heal people. They really liked the idea of the mental health benefits of joining a shed. 

I’m also on the Men’s Health Caucus in Washington, DC, and we’re trying to get a bill passed which would create a Men’s Health Department under Health and Human Services. The government has many women’s health departments, but nothing for men. We’re still self-funded in the United States. Everyone here moves so fast, and it’s hard to get anyone to pay attention.

Why should someone consider joining a Shed?

When people are lonely, when people are cut off, when people retire…three months into retirement, now what are they going to do? You can say to your friends from work that you will stay in touch, but a lot of times that fades away. We’re meant to do things, and guys identify with what they do. When you’re not doing what you identify with, some side effects can occur. Most of this is cured by participating with people in Sheds, making new friends. It not only positively affects the emotional well-being of people, but if guys are having physical problems and tell someone they are having a back issue but don’t want to go to the doctor, someone in the Shed might say, “If you go to the doctor, I’ll go with you.” It’s a camaraderie thing.

The Surgeon General of the United States has said loneliness is one of the biggest factors of people getting sick, both physically and mentally. There’s not a lot of data in the United States, but in Europe where there are Sheds, medical costs are going down, suicide rates are going down. Scotland and Australia have tons of data on this. We have a problem here in the U.S., it’s loneliness and isolation, and we are trying to combat that every day.