Back to all

Shoulder to Shoulder - Supporting Men's Shed Groups in exploring, learning and sharing new skills in Health Literacy

Addressing health literacy needs among Men's Shed members in Leitrim.

Shoulder to Shoulder course poster

“This is a fantastic programme. From the start the men were totally on board and have gained so much from being involved.”- Facilitator

This project aimed to address unmet health literacy needs Men's Sheds members in Leitrim. The programme helped learners engage with health and wellbeing and focused on developing and improving their health literacy skills.    

Seven members of the North Leitrim Men’s Shed Group attended the programme, which took place between September and December 2024.   

 The project was divided into three parts:  

  • digital skills sessions, 

  • talks and presentations by a dietician, and 

  • creation of information packs for participants. 

Digital skills sessions taught attendees how to

  • set up the HSE Patient App,  

  • applying for and renewing medical cards,  

  • download the NALA Booklet ‘Digital Matters’, 

  • access health information online, such as nutrition guidelines, food labels, and health related podcasts,  

  • use library services like Borrowbox and E-Press. 

  • making health related appointments online and staying safe online.

Josh Percival from Athrú Dietetics delivered presentations on: 

  • Understanding Food Labels, 

  •  Nutrition as a Shield – Fortifying against Muscle Loss, 

  •  Health Gain approach to Everyday Nutrition and Movement, and 

  • Quick and Easy Meal Tips. 

Healthy literacy information packs were distributed to attendees. 

Packs include: 

  • 12-page information booklets, 

  • copies of ‘Healthy Ireland at Your Library Booklist’,  

  • copies of NALA’s ‘Digital Matters’ booklet, and 

  • copies of the ‘Action Man – 10 top tips for Men’s Health’ booklet. 

Tutors showed learners how to find, understand, and use health information both in physical formats and online. They also delivered one-to-one and group sessions, which allowed them to assess individual needs devise tailored programmes for each attendee.  

The programme was extremely well received. Mens Shed members feel empowered to access essential information and support to maintain their health and wellbeing.  

“I learned so much from Breda, the tutor. She was exceptionally kind and patient and really helped us all on so many levels showing us how to use our phones to search online and find things that are difficult to for us to find in the online world we live in now.” -Learner

This project was a collaboration between Leitrim Library Service and Mayo Sligo Leitrim ETB.  

For more information about the project, please contact Roisin Egan, Regional Literacy Coordinator in Mayo Sligo and Leitrim ETB, at RoisinEgan@msletb.ie  

The Adult Literacy for Life Collaboration and Innovation Fund

The Collaboration and Innovation Fund supports projects for adults with unmet literacy, numeracy and digital literacy needs and projects that support organisations to be literacy friendly. The closing date for 2024 applications has now passed but keep an eye out for information on our 2025 fund which will be launched in December.