National locators · Six countries · 7-minute read
Men's group directories, country by country
The national locators for the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, plus the ones that only turn up if you know their names.
This page is the locator index: which national directory to open, depending on where you live. For what a men's group is, what happens in a meeting, and our checked directory of 15 organizations, start at men's groups: the directory and how they work. If your search is local rather than national, go to men's group near me.
The short version
Almost every country with a men's group movement has a national body that publishes a free locator, and those locators hold groups that never appear in a search engine. Here's which one to open, wherever you are.
- Men's Sheds are the biggest network on earth, with free national locators in Australia, the UK, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and the US.
- For talk-based groups, the ManKind Project links a regional organization for each country it operates in.
- Beyond the national bodies: Meetup, plus your library corkboard and parks guide, which still beat the internet in most towns.
- Over 60, the free national doors are the US Eldercare Locator, Age UK, and u3a.
Most men start this search in a search engine and stop there. That's the wrong tool. "Men's group near me" turns up thin results almost everywhere, not because the groups don't exist, but because most of them don't advertise. A six-man group that meets in somebody's garage on Thursdays doesn't have a website, and it never will.
What those groups do have is a national body that keeps a list. Below are those bodies, country by country, with the direct link to each locator. Working down the ones that apply to you takes about twenty minutes.
Start with Men's Sheds: the biggest network on earth
If you want hands-busy company rather than chairs in a row, Men's Sheds are the first place I'd send you. A Shed is a community workshop where men build, repair, and tinker together: woodwork, metalwork, bikes, toys for the school fair, whatever the members decide. The talk happens over the workbench, which is exactly how most men I've known prefer it.
The research backs the model. A scoping review of 31 studies on Men's Sheds and similar programs for older men linked taking part to a stronger sense of belonging, purpose, and self-reported wellbeing [1]. A 2021 qualitative study in BMC Public Health went a step further: Sheds reached men who were reluctant to walk into formal health services at all, and members reported picking up better health habits from the other men around the bench [2].
The movement started in Australia and now spans well over 2,000 Sheds worldwide. Every national association runs a free locator:
- Australia: the Australian Men's Shed Association locator, around 900 Sheds and the movement's birthplace. mensshed.org/find-a-shed
- United Kingdom: the UK Men's Sheds Association's Find a Shed map, roughly 900 Sheds and growing. menssheds.org.uk/find-a-shed
- Ireland: the Irish Men's Sheds Association Shed Finder, over 450 Sheds across the island, the densest network per head anywhere. menssheds.ie/shed-finder
- Canada: the Men's Sheds Canada shed list, over 140 Sheds across ten provinces and the fastest-growing region in the movement. mensshedscanada.ca/find-a-shed-in-canada
- New Zealand: the MENZSHED NZ "find a shed near you" map, more than 100 Sheds nationwide. menzshed.org.nz/our-location
- United States: the US Men's Shed Association's Find a Shed page. The US network is younger and thinner than the Commonwealth ones, so if your state comes up empty, the association also helps men start new Sheds. usmenssheds.org/find-a-shed
Sheds skew toward retired men, but most welcome any man who walks in. You don't need workshop skills, so don't let that stop you. Sweeping the floor and putting the kettle on counts as participation, and nobody is keeping score.
Talk-based groups: the ManKind Project
If what you're after is the sit-down kind of group, men talking straight about their actual lives, the largest organized network is the ManKind Project, a nonprofit running peer-facilitated men's groups in more than 20 countries since the 1980s.
- United States: MKP USA lists open groups by area on its men's groups page. mkpusa.org/mens-group
- Everywhere else: the international site links each country's regional organization, from the UK and Ireland to Australia, Canada, South Africa, and Germany. mankindproject.org
A fair warning so you're not caught off guard: MKP groups follow a structured format, and the organization is best known for its weekend training program, which some men love and some find too intense. The weekly groups themselves are free or low-cost. My advice is to visit one before you judge the whole thing either way.
Meetup and other local listings
Meetup hosts men's social and discussion groups in 19 countries, around 150 active groups at last count. Quality varies a lot more than the organized networks above, so read a group's history before you go: how long it's existed, how often it actually meets, and whether the same men keep coming back.
- Meetup's men's groups topic: meetup.com/topics/men. Search your city, then sort by activity, not by member count. A 12-man group that met last Tuesday beats a 400-member group that hasn't gathered since winter.
Beyond Meetup, three low-tech sources still beat the internet in most towns: the corkboard at your public library, the parks and recreation program guide, and your local paper's community calendar. Groups run by and for men over 50 are especially likely to live in those places and nowhere online, so it's worth the walk down to the library.
The network with no locator at all: churches
More men sit in a men's group through a church than through every network on this page combined, and not one of them has a national directory. Nearly every congregation of any size runs something: a Saturday morning breakfast, a weekday Bible study, a service crew that fixes widows' porches. You don't have to be a member.
Since there's no list to search, it takes two phone calls: ring the church office of any congregation near you, yours or not, and ask whether they have a men's group and when it meets. Then check the bulletin or website of the two or three largest churches in town, where men's ministries usually publish their schedule. Our guide to church men's groups goes into what to expect from each format.
Senior centers and options for men over 60
If you're past 60, there are three more doors worth knocking on, and all three are free:
- United States: the Eldercare Locator, run by the federal Administration for Community Living, connects you to your local Area Agency on Aging, which knows every senior center, men's coffee hour, and veterans' breakfast in your county. eldercare.acl.gov or 1-800-677-1116.
- United Kingdom: Age UK's local services directory lists social groups and activities by postcode, including men-only sessions at many local branches. ageuk.org.uk/services/in-your-area
- UK and beyond: u3a (University of the Third Age) runs thousands of interest groups for people no longer in full-time work, from woodworking to walking to military history. Not men-only, but heavily attended by men with time on their hands and standards about how they spend it. u3a.org.uk
Also ask any senior center about a ROMEO group: Retired Old Men Eating Out. They're informal lunch crews, they exist in far more towns than the internet knows about, and the name tells you everything about the spirit of the thing. We cover this whole landscape in more depth in our guide to men's groups for retirees.
Sizing up whatever the locator turns up
Give a promising group three visits before you decide. The first visit you're a stranger, and that's normal. By the third you'll know in your gut whether these are men you could count on, and that instinct is worth more than any checklist.
The full version of what to look for, and the warning signs worth walking away from, is on our men's groups page.
If every locator comes up empty
Then you're the founder, and that's an open seat rather than a dead end. Every group in every locator on this page started with one man deciding it should exist and inviting four to six others. No license, no budget, no charter.
Our homepage walks you through how to build a men's group, step by step, and the first meeting agenda gives you opening night minute by minute. Somebody in your town has to be the one who starts it.
Common questions
Which countries have a national men's group locator?
Australia, the UK, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and the US all have a national Men's Sheds association publishing a free shed finder, and every one is linked above. The ManKind Project links a regional organization for each of the 20-plus countries it operates in. For men over 60, add the US Eldercare Locator, Age UK, and u3a. What all of it costs is covered on our men's groups page.
What if I'm not a "talk about feelings" kind of man?
Then start with a Shed or a project-based group, and don't apologize for it. The research on Men's Sheds is clear that the workbench format works precisely because nobody is required to talk about anything. The conversation finds its own level, and it's usually deeper than you'd expect.
What if my country isn't covered by any of these locators?
Then start one. Every association listed on this page began as one man in one town deciding a group should exist and inviting four to six others. No license, no budget, no charter required. The homepage walks you through how to build a men's group step by step, from the one-sentence purpose to a group that's still meeting years later.
Ready to start your own group?
The First Meeting Kit is a free printable PDF with the exact invitation scripts, a minute-by-minute first meeting plan, and 20 questions that get men talking.
Get the free kitSources
- Milligan, C., Neary, D., Payne, S., et al. (2015). Older men and social activity: A scoping review of Men's Sheds and other gendered interventions. Ageing & Society, 36(5), 895-923. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x14001524
- Kelly, D., Steiner, A., Mason, H., et al. (2021). Men's Sheds as an alternative healthcare route? A qualitative study of the impact of Men's Sheds on user's health improvement behaviours. BMC Public Health, 21, 553. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10585-3