Andy’s Man Club
This section of my blog is a personal record of my journey with Andy’s Man Club – from walking through the door for the first time, to helping open the Louth group, and through the years as a facilitator.
It’s not about policy – although policy might get mentioned. It’s not promotion – although I do recommend AMC. It’s reflection of my years attending and facilitating at Andy’s Man Club.
The good nights. The heavy nights. The friendships. The structure. The weight that sometimes lingers long after 9pm on Monday nights.
Honest thoughts about what it’s really like to sit in that circle – and the added weight, along with privilege, of wearing the black and white shirt.
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When A Broken Man Walks Through The Door
Some men walk into Andy’s Man Club quietly. Some after walking or driving passed a few times. Some hover near the door; unsure – anxious. Some sit down, fold their arms, and spend the first hour working out whether they’ve made a terrible mistake. And then some men walk in already broken. I don’t mean…
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One Simple Idea – 10 Years of Andy’s Man Club
Ten years ago today, one man sat in a coffee shop with an idea. A week after asking for the blessing from the heartbroken mother of a young man who’d lost her son to suicide. he didn’t have a business plan. It wasn’t a national charity with hundreds of venues across the UK. Just an…
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Many Men Carry the Same Weight for Years
Sometimes, at Andy’s Man Club, you hear a man talk about something he’s been carrying for years. He doesn’t sit down and announce it. It’s not that neat. It comes out in bits, in the way he talks about work, about his family, about himself, in the same sentence he’s probably said a hundred times…
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It’s Okay to Talk, But Is It Always Safe?
Talking about what’s going on in your head only helps if the person listening can actually handle hearing it. Most people, when they ask how you are, want the short answer, not the real one. Knowing the difference matters as much as being willing to talk in the first place. “It’s okay to talk.” You’ll…
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There’s No Place for Ego in an Andy’s Man Club Shirt
Andy’s Man Club runs on the principle that every facilitator is equal. There’s no hierarchy beyond whoever happens to be leading the session on a given Monday night. The “lead facilitator” title isn’t a rank, it’s a rota. With more than 330 groups and 6,500 men attending weekly across the UK, that structure only holds…
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Let Him Finish, The Quiet Discipline of Listening
There’s a moment that happens quite often at Andy’s Man Club, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot. It can look like a small thing when you first notice it. One man is talking. Really talking. Maybe for the first time in weeks or months. He’s got everyone’s, he’s taken a pause and trying…
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Why Those Powerful Words Live on My Homepage
Nine words from a 1998 Manic Street Preachers number one sit at the top of this blog for a reason. They come originally from a Spanish Civil War propaganda poster, carried forward by a Welsh band still shaped by the disappearance of their lyricist Richey Edwards, who struggled with depression and vanished in 1995. The…
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Two Hours of Human Connection in a Week
On a Monday night, a group of men sit in a room together and talk. Properly talk. Not the usual surface stuff about the weather or football scores, but the things most blokes carry around quietly for years. For two hours, nobody interrupts, nobody judges, nobody tries to fix you. They just listen. And that…
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Is Support Always Meant To Be Ongoing?
There’s something that’s been circling in my head for a while and it came up today in a conversation with another facilitator who’s been running a group as long as I have. Every Monday night, across the UK, around 6,500 (or so) men walk through the doors of Andy’s Man Club (it was actually over…
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That One Man Who Nearly Went Home
A man stood 100 yards up the road. He nearly didn’t come in. This is why the sweeper role at Andy’s Man Club matters more than the handbook can explain. The Man Who Nearly Went Home Last night I had one of those moments that sticks with you. Along with another facilitator, I was on…