One coffee.
A growing movement.
Shoulder to Shoulder grew from one honest conversation into a community of thousands.
Where It Began
One funeral. One Dad that couldn’t hide anymore. One coffee chat with two men who decided enough was enough.
After connecting on social media, I (Dan) decided to ask Tom for a beer. He said no — but was up for a coffee instead. That coffee changed both our lives in ways we could never have imagined.
We got on like a house on fire that day in January 2025, but we also noticed something strange: it felt almost uncomfortable to go on a "man date". Like two men meeting simply to talk, connect and build a friendship was something we weren't supposed to do.
That felt odd because we were both looking for more connection and belonging, but we didn't have the spaces to find it — especially with other men. We started wondering: if we felt this way, how many other men did too?
How It Grew
And that’s when Shoulder to Shoulder was born.
We started with a monthly walk and a coffee, before growing to fortnightly meet-ups. Today, we host more than 25 events every month.
Why? Because it turns out our theory was right. We weren't the only men who had drifted from old friendships, felt isolated or struggled to find purpose.
It’s something our dads experienced too (read our founder stories to learn more), and it’s why we’re so passionate about what we do.
We’re on a mission to prevent what happened to our dads from happening to another generation of men — and we’re already seeing the impact.
Every day, we see men move from feeling isolated and disconnected to becoming more confident, supported and fulfilled. Men finding the belonging and self-worth that we wish our dads had experienced more of.
So, if you’re still reading, thank you for being here.
Share what we do with someone who might need it. Or better still, come and join us — we’ll see you at an event soon.
Meet the Co-Founder
Dan Shrigley
It's funny how I started this community to help others, but it's ended up being incredibly important for me too. I've made some strong friends through this group (I even went on holiday with one of them recently) and it's given me a sense of purpose I've been craving for years.
That sense of purpose revolves around my mission to prevent what happened to my Dad from happening to others, because I believe a greater sense of belonging and connection could have avoided the struggles he faced inside his head.
What's cool now is that whilst we're not a mental health support group, the impact S2S is having on the mental health of our members is huge. In a world where men are often told to just “talk more”, I couldn't be prouder of this community.
Meet the Co-Founders
Tom Stroud
Growing up without a dad around, I never really had a male role model. I found it hard to trust men, hard to build real friendships with other guys, and I carried that all the way into adulthood. 17 years of working in PR agencies, winning awards, climbing the corporate ladder, I was surrounded by people but felt genuinely disconnected from the men around me.
Meeting Dan for a coffee in January 2025 changed that. That coffee turned into fortnightly walks, then a WhatsApp group, then a community of hundreds. I handed in my notice in January 2026 to go all in on Shoulder to Shoulder. What I found surprised me: hundreds, then thousands, of genuinely good men, showing up for each other in a way I'd never really seen growing up. It rewired something in me. For the first time, I started to see men as role models, and myself as the kind of role model I'd been missing.
That's the whole point of S2S for me: connection is the thing so many men are missing, and most of us have never been shown how to build it. I’m passionate about supporting young men, giving them an alternative to the toxic influencers you see on social media. Every week I watch a guy go from isolated to genuinely connected, and I'm reminded that walking away from the "safe" path was the best decision I ever made.
