The Irish Men’s Sheds Association (IMSA) has produced this manual to raise awareness of dementia as well as offer advice for Shedders, their families, carers and Shed committees on supporting a member with dementia.
Adapted from a version created by The Australian Men’s Sheds Association (AMSA) and Alzheimer’s Australia NSW, the ‘Your Shed & Dementia’ manual has been launched to better facilitate men with the condition and make sure there’s a place for them in local groups.
Developed in partnership with the HSE’s Dementia: Understand Together campaign and The Alzheimer Society of Ireland, the manual offers tools to help Shedders recognise signs of dementia, as well as offering practical communication and listening tips.
The toolkit provides easily accessible support and guidance where needed on a Shed journey and is split into two main sections.
Part 1 provides guidance to those thinking of starting a Men’s Shed or those in the development stages.
Part 2 is for Sheds that are already established who might be looking for advice and information e.g. how to overcome unexpected challenges.
The toolkit can also be a useful reference point for agencies supporting Sheds and at the back of the toolkit, there is a list of useful sources of information and support.
The Men’s Sheds toolkit was written by Dr Danielle Kelly and Professor Artur Steiner, Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health of Glasgow Caledonian University. The SMSA is delighted to be involved in developing this guide for Sheds as part of this four-year partnership project.
Register today to attend this exciting event showcasing the findings of the four-year GCU ‘Sheds for Sustainable Development Project’, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, and the official launch of the first-ever Men’s Shed Toolkit for the UK and Ireland.
Join Shedders, Shed support agencies, practitioners, policymakers and academics for this one-off event – bringing everyone together in support of the Men’s Shed Movement.
The event will include:
An overview of key project findings on what Men’s Sheds need to sustain and develop and the health and wellbeing impacts of Shed activities on their users
Special guest speakers from across the UK and Ireland
The official launch of the first-ever UK and Ireland Men’s Shed toolkit – a one stop-shop for all your Shedding needs
Men’s Sheds in the UK have been highlighted for the impact they can have on men’s social wellbeing but less is known about their ability to address social isolation and loneliness, especially among retired and unemployed men.
This report outlines findings from in-depth interviews with 62 Men’s Shed members from five Scottish Sheds, exploring the ways in which Shed activities address risk factors for male social isolation and loneliness.
The findings suggest that Men’s Sheds offer a range of activities that are conducive to meeting new people and forming social networks where this had been previously lacking. In particular, Sheds were found to be beneficial to those who were socially isolated due to retirement or living alone.
Although Sheds are not a formal healthcare service, there is potential for partnership working with policymakers and practitioners through models such as social prescribing or signposting.
The study also explores the role Sheds could take in post-COVID-19 recovery.
Dr Danielle Hutcheon (nee Kelly) Glasgow Caledonian University
Men’s Sheds don’t do politics in the Sheds but at the SMSA we work with all parties to support the Scottish Men’s Sheds Movement.
With the upcoming election and launch of SMSA’s first-ever Manifesto (and issue of this publication to all candidates), it was excellent to hear a leader of a national party reference Men’s Sheds (St Andrews Men’s Shed) in his opening address at the recent SCVO Hustings event. The Movement is getting well established and to get this level of endorsement is a very positive and welcome sign after a very difficult year.
It was also encouraging to hear the leaders of the main Scottish political parties pledge their commitment to multi-year funding for the voluntary sector.
Read the full story here and watch the video below (the reference to Men’s Sheds is approximately 7 minutes in).
On the 26th April 2021, Scotland will return to the levels system. On this date, it is hoped that Men’s Sheds will be able to re-open their doors—in line with SMSA’s ‘Reopening Guidance for Men’s Sheds in Scotland’—if they choose to do so.
SMSA recommends that individual Shed committees now begin to have these discussions on the reopening process (if not already started) as to whether or not your Shed is in a position to open to some extent.
Following the consultation on the guidance with Shed members and our partner organisations, SMSA is now releasing the revised version. SMSA is indebted to the organisations—including SMSA Shed Members, Age Scotland, Healthy Working Lives, Public Health Scotland, Scottish Community Development Centre and Scottish Government—that took the time to review the documents and provide us with feedback.
The guidance provides advice and examples for Sheds on steps and safety measures to put in place prior to opening their doors again when the time is right. The documents are intended for guidance only and were developed by the Association to attempt to cover all types of Men’s Sheds across Scotland and aid the individual decision-making process for each Shed Committee.
SMSA will regularly review the guidance and advise Sheds of any changes. The guidance is now available in the SMSA online resource library (member log-in required) at:
The SMSA’S manifesto was created to call on politicians and funders to support men’s health and wellbeing through Scottish Men’s Sheds.
The Association, which is trailblazing the Men’s Sheds Movement in Scotland, recommends five key actions for politicians, invested groups and the general public as a whole to support Men’s Sheds and fully recognise the wealth of health and wellbeing benefits for men over the age of 18.
SMSA’s vision is that every man in Scotland will, one day, have access to—and the opportunity to attend—their local Men’s Shed if they choose to do so. Jason Schroeder, SMSA CEO, said: “SMSA is launching this manifesto at just the right time. Sheds will be needed more than ever in post-COVID-19 recovery and it is vital to expand the SMSA and its support mechanism in line with the growth of the Movement to support Sheds across Scotland now and in the years to come.
“Investment and support to lead change is required to underpin the ongoing creation of this health by stealth and voluntary social wellbeing pathway for men. SMSA is also recommending that localised support across the Shed network is embedded; a start-up and development fund for Sheds is implemented; a focused national awareness campaign is delivered; and the reach to the Armed Forces and Veterans community and Blue Light services is improved on.”
SMSA pledges to continue making a real difference by empowering thousands of men (our sons, brothers, fathers, uncles and grandfathers) and their communities – over the coming years – to play their part in a system change towards a wellbeing economy.
Men’s Sheds as an alternative healthcare route? A qualitative study of the impact of Men’s Sheds on user’s health improvement behaviours
Glasgow Caledonian University’s latest paper from the three-year Sheds for Sustainable Development Project has been published by the Bio-Medical Central (BMC) Public Health on the 20th March 2021 and is available on their website at:
As men’s health is an underrepresented area of policy and practice, there have been calls for more ‘male-friendly’ approaches to get men to think about and look after their health. While Men’s Sheds are recognised for the health and wellbeing impacts they can bring to their users, less is known about the effects that Sheds can have on men’s behaviours and attitudes towards their health.
While Sheds aren’t formal healthcare providers, this paper outlines the ways that Sheds encourage men to look after their health and wellbeing in both obvious and non-obvious ways in an alternative informal and supportive ‘male-friendly’ environment. For example, the ways that Shed activities can provide a distraction from illness or adversity, how men can become educated on aspects of male health and how the support that Shedders receive can make them feel better about their health situations.
How to use the SMSA logo in your promotional materials
The SMSA logos are an important part of our brand—used in all our internal and external communications—and the Association has put together this simple guidance to help our members, partners, funders and members of the media use our logo correctly.
SMSA has two versions of its logo (pictured below), one for generic use and one for use by official SMSA Shed Members on their websites, social media accounts, leaflets, posters and other promotional materials.
The SMSA logo must not be altered, recoloured or the shape changed in any way—the logo(s) must appear exactly as shown above
Our logos must not be shared with any third party without prior discussion with the Association
When using the logo(s) online, please hyperlink the logo to signpost to the SMSA website
Logo Requests
To protect the use of our logo, requests (for each use) must be made in writing to SMSA at comms@scottishmsa.org.uk to obtain the logo in the appropriate size and format you require and detail what the logo will be used for.
If you missed the opportunity of the sold out Scottish Men’s Sheds Association national online conference on the 21st January 2021 you can now enjoy an edited version of the first half of the conference.
Big thanks for all the Sheds input, Tim Green (Age Scotland Men’s Shed Development Officer), Dr Dani Kelly (Glasgow Caledonian University), Maurice Corrie (Cross party Armed Forces & Veterans Chairman and MSP) and our SMSA Trustees.
Listen to how the Sheds have fared over the last 10 months of the Pandemic, our new Emergency Shed Funding, the ground breaking Pathfindr safe distancing assistant now available through the SMSA for free to all Scottish Men’s Shed members and lastly the latest status of the SMSA Reopening Shed Guidance.
