What Mensano Offers: Practical Support for Men, Schools, and the Communities Around Them

When people ask what Mensano does, the answer is straightforward: we help men build the skills and confidence they need to handle real life. But the way we do that depends on who we’re working with. Whether you’re a man looking for support, a school searching for preventative education, or a partner organisation wanting to address male wellbeing, our approach always starts with the same idea. Men do better when the help they receive is practical, grounded, and delivered in a way that respects how they think and communicate. Mensano exists to provide that.

For men themselves, the offer is simple and accessible: free peer support groups designed specifically for men who want to improve their lives. These aren’t therapy sessions, and they aren’t casual conversations either. Each group is facilitated by trained practitioners who guide men through skills-focused discussions on communication, emotional regulation, relationships, confidence, and everyday problem-solving. The sessions are structured enough to feel safe, but relaxed enough to feel natural. The aim is not to make men talk for the sake of talking, but to help them practise habits that make life easier: honesty without aggression, responsibility without shame, and connection without performance.

Many men have never been part of a space like this. They’ve had friends, colleagues, teammates, but not a structured environment where they can learn and be challenged alongside other men who want progress rather than pity. Mensano groups create that environment. The benefit isn’t just emotional; it’s behavioural. Men leave with clearer thinking, stronger skills, and a better sense of what they want from their relationships, careers, and futures. For men who feel isolated or stuck, these groups offer a place to rebuild momentum.

For schools, our role is preventative and educational. The challenges young people face today—misinformation, relationship pressure, online radicalisation, gender confusion, and emotional overwhelm—are not going away. Schools are doing their best, but many teachers feel underprepared to handle complex conversations about masculinity, misogyny, and online harm. That’s where Mensano steps in. We offer school workshops delivered through partnerships, designed to strengthen social and emotional understanding in ways that resonate with boys and girls alike, while providing teachers with the tools they need to continue the work long after the session ends.

Our workshops cover practical topics: emotional literacy, healthy relationships, consent, communication, conflict resolution, and the influence of digital spaces on identity. These sessions are aligned with PSHE and RSE guidance, ensuring they meet educational standards, but we deliver them in a way that actually connects with students. We don’t preach. We don’t shame. We open conversations that feel real and grounded in everyday adolescent experience. And critically, we address manosphere narratives directly but responsibly—explaining how harmful ideas spread, why they appeal, and how young people can build critical thinking skills to resist them.

Schools that work with Mensano gain more than a one-off workshop. They gain a collaborative relationship. We equip teachers with resources, guidance, and confidence to continue these discussions themselves. When schools build internal capacity, the impact spreads far beyond one classroom. Young people become more aware, more respectful, and less vulnerable to harmful online influences. Teachers feel more confident addressing sensitive topics. And the whole school environment moves closer to one where positive relationships and responsible behaviour are normal, not exceptional.

For community partners, charities, mental health organisations, and local authorities, Mensano offers something unique: a male-focused, prevention-first approach that complements existing services. Many organisations recognise that men engage differently, but few have the structures or training to adapt their support. Mensano does. We provide consultation, training, co-delivered programmes, and community workshops aimed at improving male engagement, reducing isolation, and disrupting pathways into extremist online spaces. We also collaborate with sports clubs, youth groups, and universities to deliver targeted interventions where young men already gather. This approach increases reach and reduces stigma, allowing support to meet men where they are rather than waiting for them to walk through a door.

What unites all of these offers—peer groups, school workshops, and collaborative partnerships—is a commitment to practical, actionable skills. Mensano is built on a simple belief: when men understand themselves and their relationships better, everything else becomes easier. Confidence becomes more stable. Conflict becomes more manageable. Relationships become healthier. Work becomes more sustainable. Communities become safer. The skills we teach are not theoretical. They are the everyday behaviours that determine how men handle stress, connect with others, and build lives they can be proud of.

Our approach is also grounded in evidence. Research consistently shows that peer-led interventions improve engagement among men who avoid traditional services. Early psychoeducation reduces the risk of future harm. Skills-based workshops improve emotional regulation, communication, and resilience. And structured male spaces increase belonging and reduce isolation. Mensano brings these findings together into a model that is accessible, scalable, and adaptable across different ages, backgrounds, and contexts.

The final piece of what we offer is something harder to quantify but deeply important: a hopeful alternative. Many men feel written off—by society, by institutions, by their own past failures. They don’t need lectures, labels, or punishment. They need support that treats them as capable. They need spaces that expect something of them. They need practical opportunities to move forward. Mensano is built for men who want to grow but don’t know where to start. For schools that want to protect young people before harm occurs. For communities that want men to feel connected rather than lost.

Working with Mensano means working alongside men, not against them. It means investing in prevention rather than reacting to crises. It means giving boys and men the tools to lead themselves well. And it means believing that strong, healthy, responsible men are not a luxury—they’re essential to families, schools, and society as a whole.

References

Ballinger, M., Talbot, L., & Verrinder, G. (2009). More than a place to do woodwork: A case study of a community men’s shed. Journal of Men’s Health, 6(1), 20–27.

Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta‐analysis of school‐based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432.

Oliffe, J. L., Ogrodniczuk, J. S., Bottorff, J. L., Johnson, J. L., & Hoyak, K. (2012). “You feel like you can’t live anymore”: Suicide from the perspectives of Canadian men who experience depression. Social Science & Medicine, 74(4), 506–514.

Seidler, Z. E., Dawes, A. J., Rice, S. M., Oliffe, J. L., & Dhillon, H. M. (2016). The role of masculinity in men’s help-seeking for depression: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 49, 106–118.