Hey guys,

You asked for more updates on our Shoulder to Shoulder men's community so here it is.

Wanted to share some more information on how our fortnightly walk and coffee events work and some of the feedback from the guys that came last weekend – see attached pic for some really heartwarming messages sent into the group.

We ask everyone to arrive at 11am, we normally set off at 11.20 latest. The meet point is the statue of Achilles (nearest tube, Hyde Park Corner).

Me and Dan (the other founder) do a little intro, ask anyone new to identify themselves and task those that have been before to make an effort to connect with the new guys (we had 35 newbies last weekend!).

We then we divide into smaller groups of 8-10 led by some of our amazing leadership group.

In these groups everyone introduces themselves, says why they're there and shares something they'd like to discuss on the walk. This could be anything from struggling to find meaning or purpose in their job, through to a challenge in their romantic relationship. We find this really powerful because it means the guys can find common ground very easily

We then we’ll do our normal route around the park, and at halfway we take a pause for a little reshuffle. This means the guys can connect with some different people if they'd like to.

The walks normally take about two hours, and honestly, everyone leaves a different person. It's life changing to some of the guys there. A great way to start a Sunday! Want to be clear after the last post, this is, and always will be, a free event.

We do loads of other events, talks, and have a thriving WhatsApp community with around 1,370 guys, but this is the one thing we're most proud of. The next one will be on December 7.

Website: https://shouldertoshoulder.carrd.co/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/shouldertoshouldercommunity/

by stroudtom

25 comments

  1. Such an awesome group of guys and another brilliant walk. Always love seeing the transformation from the start to the end (for context, I’m the one in the middle with the headphones and green gilet, and I co founded this community with the legend that is Tom (he gets upset sometimes that I’m 12 years younger than him aha)

  4. Aw crap anything I say here is going to sound patronizing, and I really don’t mean it this way, but this is so cool! It’s easy for us girls sometimes, but this is the kind of community that I see the men in my life missing out on, particularly as pubs have started to fall by the wayside. It’s brave to be vulnerable and put yourself out there, absolute peak manliness IMO!

    I would love for my husband to do something like this.

  5. Love to see this, wish I could get my brother doing something like this.

  7. Popped along for the first time this weekend.

    Certainly won’t have been my last!

  9. I was one of the newbies this week and also felt a tad anxious approaching such a big number of people. But that changed quickly, and it felt so nice to talk with such sympathetic guys 💙

  11. Joining this group has been a real highlight of the year for me.

  12. this is so wonderful! What a way to tackle the loneliness epidemic and encourage men to actually open up and talk. Our society is so shit when it comes to forming these sorts of connections amongst men so this is such a lifeline. The way male and female relationships differ is such a socially engineered thing and guys really do need to be able to have these chats. But also what a nice way to make some new friends.

    thank you for doing this. You guys are awesome and i hope it continues to thrive.

  13. So do you guys meet up and just stand around, chatting?

  15. This is wonderful. Well done fellas. Tearing up a wee bit just reading about it.

  16. Im struggling to make friends as a man in my late twenties. Im going to try and come to the next meet up and find a bit of community.

  17. Men need their own hangouts. (Edited for clarity.)

  18. I am so, so pleased to see this taking off. In my previous job I worked with both men and women in difficult circumstances and while there were loads of support organisations for the women, I was pulling my hair out trying to find the same for the men. Guys really need more of these organisations that support mental health (and don’t get me started on lacking support for male victims of DV and SA), so seeing things like this is great!

    Thanks for all your good work, fellas! You are making a real difference.

  20. This community came as a literal blessing to me personally. Moved to London 3 years ago and couldn’t almost find no real friends here since moving but it all very quickly changed with Shoulder to Shoulder. I feel I’ll find a few lifelong friends across different subgroups in the community. Super happy and super grateful! I finally have lads I can go to ask my silly questions and don’t feel judged. All men I have connected so far have been real fine gentlemen, well-behaved and very inclusive.

  21. I love seeing the group getting larger in each photo!

  22. Would love to see a hub/spoke model with London at the heart and local groups popping up nationwide. Where I am it’s hard to join London meet-ups easily but would love to join one nearby to me!

  23. This is lovely — the structure and small-group intro sounds really welcoming. I run a small meetup too and found a neat time-saver: when I updated our event app listing I used App Screenshot Kit to quickly turn raw screens into polished, device-framed screenshots so the listing looked consistent across phones without fiddling in Figma. Saved me hours before a release and made onboarding info clearer for new folks. If anyone’s managing an event app and wants tips on screenshots or copy that helps signups, happy to share what worked for us.

  24. Oooh, I’m gonna join this group, what a great idea!

  25. My first time going. Solid but much of men. If you anxious about going it’s understandable but everyone there is friendly enough. I highly recommend giving it a try! I’ll be going back and thanks guys for organising this 🙌🏾

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