Ideas We Should Steal: Men’s Sheds
Apr. 30, 2019
A few years ago, Glenn Sears, now 84 and a retired civil engineer, moved from a 5000-square-pes dwelling in Colorado to a condominium on the 35th floor in Hawaii. He apace realized he no longer had the space to make and fix things, then he started going to senior centers to see if they could assistance him cure his newfound colorlessness.
"They'd say, 'What would you like to do?' And I would say, 'I'd kind of like to build a bookcase,'" Sears recalls. "They'd wait at me like I was crazy." Instead, they offered him elementary Japanese or line dancing. "I just figured I'd have to give up making things and become more than sedentary and it but seemed like that was the way information technology was going to get."
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Information technology turns out that Sears wasn't the only older man struggling to make full his time. Phil Johnson, now 70, was living in Minnesota, recently retired from a career in software development and looking online for activities for older men. He thought ofttimes of his own father, who had struggled with getting out of the firm for the last 20 years of his life. Between 2022 and 2016 , both Johnson and Sears came across Men's Sheds, an initially Australian system that was making its style across the world, in their hunt for something to practise.
"It sounded kind of like Male child Scouts for former guys," explains Johnson. "There weren't merit badges to earn but there was camaraderie at a local level that really appealed to me."
"Senior guys have then much life experience, and then much professional experience," says Winston. "Merely they experience like an one-time horse thrown out to pasture. They lose their bulldoze." The modify in one case they get-go coming to the shed, he says, is "almost magical."
Men'southward Sheds are gathering spaces in which men become together to piece of work on projects shoulder to shoulder, from building furniture to volunteering at customs events. They are designed to combat loneliness among retired men by providing them with activities they can practise, as a group, while connecting with each other. Inquiry shows that low increases forth with age , for many of the reasons you may assume: loneliness, poor health, and the loss of family members, friends, and spouses who pass abroad.
This process, however, is not inevitable. Enquiry has also proven that as sociability increases among elderly people, loneliness decreases; as loneliness decreases, depressive symptoms decrease. Given that white men 85 and older commit suicide at more than than iv times the rate of the full general population in the Usa, edifice a formal infrastructure through which elderly men can come across new friends tin literally save lives.
And Men's Sheds impact more than just mental health; they seem to be improving participants' physical wellness as well. Men brandish fewer health-seeking behaviors than women do, for a variety of reasons often related to socialization and masculinity, but studies of Men's Sheds across the globe have constitute that men talk actively about their health concerns while they're in that location—something Winston calls "wellness past stealth." Many sheds schedule visits from wellness workers to talk about staying physically active or common diseases like diabetes, and some sheds in Commonwealth of australia and Ireland fifty-fifty offer health screenings to members.
This is one of the reasons Men's Sheds don't recruit women to join them, though they, as well as younger men, are welcome to come past if they'd similar. "It's difficult for guys to discuss their prostate problems if someone in the grouping is a woman," explains Sears.
In Hawaii, Sears got to work starting his own fledgling Men's Shed at the same time as Johnson was considering how to make it happen in Minnesota. The idea, they learned, was widespread—more than i,000 Men's Sheds existed worldwide, only none had even so been launched in the U.s.a.. In 2022 they were introduced to Mark Winston, now in his early 60s, who had recently launched his own Men's Shed in British Columbia, and the three men decided to officially bring the concept to the The states.
Winston, who lived betwixt British Columbia and Wyoming and worked in business development, established the national nonprofit in 2022 and asked Sears and Johnson to join the board of directors. Sears launched the first shed in Honolulu, and Johnson the second in Hopkins, Minnesota. Today, fourteen Men's Sheds dot the United states, though they are concentrated in the Midwest, and ix more are in development. Hours and membership fees vary, with some Sheds charging no dues at all and some charging up to $85 a year, depending on the scope of their space and the activities offered.
"We practise focus groups around the urban center, and a consistent affair that nosotros hear from people is 'I don't know how to connect, I don't where to go, who practise I talk to?'" explains Hernández Vélez.
While US Men'south Sheds share a focus on reducing isolation and idleness among elderly men, they can accept varying approaches to doing this. The Honolulu Men's Shed, which now boasts more than 100 members, operates like a workshop. The half dozen,000-square foot space is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays—though it's available to members any time, every bit long as two people are present and someone is trained in starting time aid and CPR—for members to come piece of work on projects.
The workshop is stocked full of ability tools that members tin can use, something that Sears says were surprisingly easy to come past when they were getting started. "Nosotros put articles on Craigslist looking for tools, and we were inundated with woodworking tools. Nosotros got so many we had to inquire to terminate," explains Sears. Manifestly, the Shed was solving an boosted unexpected problem for elderly people: "You can't imagine how many widows in that location are out in that location who don't know what to practise with their husband'southward tools."
The men have built a playhouse for a preschool, built picnic tables for simple schools, and regularly repair old canoes that are abandoned throughout the island, which they and so rent out to local hotels and resorts to put on display.
The Hopkins Men's Shed, with 37 members, focuses more than on community service, and operates out of a senior center rather than its ain physical space. They keep regular advice with the city'south maintenance department, and men sign up for small jobs, like scooping ice cream at the summer festival or putting plastic bags over the fire hydrants in the city to keep them clean and workable through the winter.
Bob Nelson, 72 and a member of the Hopkins Men's Shed, participates frequently in projects ranging from argue painting to garden planting. What they practice, though, isn't actually the point. That'due south why, Johnson says, putting together a piece of IKEA article of furniture is the perfect Men's Shed activity. "One guy gets the wrench, a few concord parts, four fight over the instructions with no words, and the balance of the guys stand around and drink coffee," he explains. "The activity isn't the purpose; the purpose is for guys to gather and stand shoulder to shoulder rather than face up to face. It's much more comfortable for guys to take something to exercise."
Research conducted in Philadelphia has plant that simply being socially connected to other people boosts both physical and mental health outcomes for older adults. "The trust issue is very large," explains Allen Glickman, Managing director of Enquiry and Evaluation at the Philadelphia Corporation for the Aging. "Men's Sheds seem to exist the kind of matter that not merely gives them opportunities to do things, only also to develop those trusting relationships" necessary for internalizing health information.
Philadelphia, like about cities, has its fair share of senior centers and groups. Co-ordinate to Lydia Hernández Vélez, Deputy Managing Managing director for Crumbling at the Mayor's Commission for Aging, West Philadelphia fifty-fifty has a group of seniors who regularly help people repair their homes.
"It brings 100 old guys out of the house and makes them office of a community again. We have a lot of fun. We work together, we express mirth together, we joke together," says Sears. "It'southward something that is missing in the lives of older men."
Despite this, the challenge of isolation amidst this population persists in the city. "We exercise focus groups around the city, and a consistent thing that we hear from people is 'I don't know how to connect, I don't where to go, who practice I talk to?'" explains Hernández Vélez. "That'south a challenge for many people, they accept this feeling that they want to do something, but how do they really connect with some place where they can bring all of that noesis and energy and expertise."
In add-on, says Hernández Vélez, an expansion in such networks mean more eyes are on a particularly vulnerable population. "If someone has been very diligent in attending the meetings, and and then no one'southward seen them in two or three weeks, they call up, 'Who's talked to her, has anyone seen her? No, something's incorrect.'" People who otherwise would not accept known each other get safety nets for each other.
This is a particular challenge for Philadelphia'southward rapidly growing immigrant community, where, according to Hernández Vélez, it becomes an outcome of "literally, practice we speak the same language?" According to Glickman, as of 2022 14 percent of Philadelphians over the age of 60 did not speak fluent English.
Thus far all US Men's Sheds are English-oriented places, but Winston says they'd love to help get a Men'south Shed hosted in a language other than English off the ground. The group offers resources and advice on starting i: Someone interested needs to offset find ii or three other guys to class a steering committee, and then hold an data meeting—he recommends advertisement on Craigslist—to spread awareness and recruit members.
From there, the process largely depends on whether the grouping wants to piece of work out of an already existing senior center or start a stand up-lone arrangement. No matter the approach, Winston says, the board's role is to support men in getting it off the ground, and anyone should feel free to contact them with questions.
Ultimately, a Men's Shed anywhere is a win for Sears, Winston, and Johnson. "Senior guys have so much life experience, and then much professional person experience," says Winston. "Simply they experience like an erstwhile equus caballus thrown out to pasture. They lose their drive." The change once they start coming to the shed, he says, is "almost magical."
"Information technology brings 100 former guys out of the firm and makes them part of a community again. We take a lot of fun. Nosotros work together, we laugh together, we joke together," says Sears. "It's something that is missing in the lives of older men."
Photo via Honolulu Men'southward Shed 
Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/ideas-we-should-steal-mens-sheds/
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