Community Insights: Andy's Man Club

What we did

On 27 April 2026, we visited Andy’s Man Club at their Sheffield Central group. Andy’s Man Club is a nationwide men’s support group whose mission is to encourage men to talk about their issues in a safe and supportive group. It is peer-led, and not a crisis service. They meet every Monday across the UK at 7pm and now have six groups in the Sheffield area. 

Group sessions follow the same format each week across the country. You can read about how groups run here. 

We were fortunate to have some time to talk to members after their session to gather feedback about mental health services in Sheffield. We heard from thirteen working age men. All notes were taken with consent of the group for the purposes of feedback, and all comments are the group’s own. 

What we learnt

What works well?

• Members of the group spoke very highly of Andy’s Man Club. Many had found the group through word-of-mouth or social media, though some had been signposted to the group by their GP. Members described it as a safe space where men could share freely without judgement and support one another.
• One member reported having a good relationship with their GP after having a break down while attending a blood pressure check-up one day. Their GP listened to them empathetically for 45 minutes and offered them a referral to Sheffield Talking Therapies.
• Another member who attends Clover City Practice said that having a regular GP who checks in on them with purpose to support them with their mental health has helped them in their recovery journey. Their GP has also referred them for specialist psychotherapy.

What could be better?

• Many members of the group had first-hand experience of accessing Talking Therapies in Sheffield. They felt that the CBT offered operated more as a ‘tick box’ exercise with limited opportunity to engage with their personal history and experiences. They felt it was not the most appropriate therapy model to support them. 
  
  “The CBT wasn’t very effective. It just felt like a tick-box exercise”
• Some men reported being told they were too unwell to be offered treatment from Talking Therapies while others were told they were not unwell enough to access the service. Members were unclear what the criteria was to meet the threshold for therapy. 
  
  “My assessor had the best intentions but because I wasn’t at breaking point, I was deemed okay”
• The NHS’s internal mental health offer for staff, Vivup, was described as inadequate. We were told that staff are only entitled to six therapy sessions at a time, which one person reported as being disruptive to the therapeutic process, leaving them with little benefit.  

Ideas for improvement

• More clarity and consistency around the threshold for accessing Talking Therapies with better signposting from the service to more appropriate support when therapy has been denied.
• Offering Talking Therapies from a principle of prevention rather than response to avoid men finding themselves at a point where their mental health goes beyond the threshold to access the service.
• Increase the social prescribing offer in the NHS for local men’s support groups and more awareness raising in order to reduce the stigma experienced by men in discussing mental health. 
  
  “We want more acknowledgement from the NHS that there is a men’s mental health crisis right now. More empathy. You want to see more action from the NHS to believe they’re on your side”

Next steps

Information sharing

We will share this write-up with relevant service providers and community groups. This may include, but not be limited to, any named GP practices, mental health commissioners and service providers.

Thank you

We would like to thank Andy’s Man Club for having us and to all those who attended for sharing their feedback and experiences with us.