The man behind the mask
For the man who looks composed, capable and in control, but privately knows the pressure is leaking into sleep, relationships, risk or focus.
Performance, identity and regulation for high-performing men
Meet Dave.
For men who look like they have business handled, but privately struggle with pressure, relationships, gambling patterns, masking, overthinking, neurodivergence, or switching off.
Free
Open-door access for men who want to perform better without pretending everything is fine.
Essex
Meet-ups, workshops, sport, trades, business spaces, pubs, gyms, and workplaces.
3 in 4
Suicides in the UK are men. Silence is costing lives.
45-49
Men in this age group have the highest suicide rates in the UK.
Performance under pressure
Practical support in real-life spaces.
The Dave Network is built around the places men already understand: business, sport, pubs, clubs, gyms, trades, family life and the quiet moments where pressure catches up.
Activity first
Pool, darts, walks, forums and low-pressure events make the first step easier.
In-person sessions
Selected bookings can use our Black Notley room arrangement with Absolute Health by Nurses.
Choose your path
What do you need today?
Clear routes for men, families, businesses, sports professionals, trades, funders, and high performers who want better regulation, sharper identity and stronger relationships.
Find an event
Meals, pool, darts, poker, crazy golf, forums, and low-pressure spaces.
Performance coaching
Redefine, Re-Regulate and Reclaim through identity-led performance support.
Become a member
Affordable monthly support from free to £20/month.
Donate now
Support events, resources, forums, access and performance mentoring pathways.
The 500 Club
Corporate giving for businesses who want to help men find a way in.
Get email updates
Events, forums, membership, free resources and partnership news.
Are you Dave?
High performance should not cost you yourself.
Dave might look calm at the pool table, sharp in business, and first to lighten the mood at the pub. But behind the smile, he may be overthinking, gambling with risk, struggling in relationships, masking neurodivergence, running on poor sleep, or carrying pressure no one sees.
The Dave Network exists for men like him. Men who help everyone else but struggle to help themselves. Men who want performance management for real life: pressure, identity, regulation, impulse, focus, relationships, confidence, and the patterns that quietly take over.
“I can run the business, but I still struggle to manage myself.â€
Dave is not one man. Dave is a pattern many high-performing men recognise.
Inside the free community
Your first step.
Whether you are just starting out or not ready to talk yet, The Dave Network gives you a practical doorway into performance, identity, regulation, connection and honest insight.
Resources
Free reflections, prompts, and practical tools for men who want to understand pressure, overthinking, impulse, masking, identity, relationships, and confidence.
Community
Updates, honest conversation, and a chance to connect with other men who get it.
Meet-ups
Invitations to Essex meet-ups, walk and talks, workshops, and culture-shifting conversations.
- Trauma-informed performance spaces for men to reconnect with movement, regulation, identity and community.
- Neurodiversity-aware insight for high performers, helpers, leaders, business owners and everyday men.
- Early previews of workshops across football clubs, pubs, gyms, and workplaces.
- Support led by Mente Hermosa CIC with care, dignity, and no pressure to pretend.
Partners and supporters
Backed by people who believe men need safer spaces.
The Dave Network is part of a wider mission by Mente Hermosa CIC, supported through partnerships, training routes, community backing, and approved funder recognition that helps make identity-led, trauma-informed and neurodiversity-aware spaces more accessible.
The National Lottery Community Fund Approved supporter logoSport England + The National Lottery Approved official lockup to upload from toolkit
The Mental Wellbeing Company Training partnerIn partnership with Beautiful Mind
Training for stronger cultures.
Through our partnership with Beautiful Mind and The Mental Wellbeing Company, we can connect communities, schools, workplaces, sports clubs, trades, and public sector teams with trauma-informed and positive psychology training that helps people understand pressure, behaviour, communication, emotional wellbeing, and psychologically safer culture in practical ways.
Workshops
Accredited trauma-informed and positive psychology workshops for schools, workplaces, sports clubs, trades, and public sector organisations.
Mental Health First Aid
Practitioner and awareness training to help teams notice, approach, and respond to people who may be struggling without judgement or shame.
Coaching and Resources
1:1 and group coaching routes, reflective resources, regulation education, and tools for building resilience and psychological safety.
- For football clubs and gyms: create better conversations around pressure, masking, burnout, confidence, and emotional agility.
- For workplaces: build understanding, empathy, psychological safety, and healthier team culture.
- For schools and families: use trauma-informed strategies and positive psychology tools to support learning and wellbeing.
- For public sector teams: strengthen trauma-informed awareness, reduce pressure on teams, and improve how people are met and understood.
Retreats, coaching and mentoring
Redefine. Re-Regulate. Reclaim.
Mente Hermosa CIC is a trauma-informed and neurodiversity-aware organisation helping people transform the space between performance and identity. Our retreats, coaching, and mentoring packages help men, teams, leaders, and communities understand what they carry, develop regulation tools, and reconnect with who they are beyond pressure, masking, and survival mode.
Redefine
Explore identity, beliefs, roles, pressure, and the stories people have learned to live inside.
Re-Regulate
Use trauma-informed and neurodiversity-aware tools to understand regulation, stress responses, burnout, and emotional agility.
Reclaim
Move towards performance, leadership, connection, and life choices that feel aligned rather than forced.
Sport, trades and real-world conversations
Proud sponsors of Shaun Storry.
The Dave Network is proud to sponsor Shaun Storry and is looking to partner with more sports professionals who want to help shift the culture around men's wellbeing, pressure, identity, performance, and life outside the spotlight.
We are also creating a monthly forum for people in the trades and sports world: practical conversations about the topics men actually carry into work, training, competition, and home life.
Monthly forum topics
Pressure, burnout, money stress, injury, identity, fatherhood, grief, neurodivergence, relationships, confidence, and asking for help without shame.
Who it is for
Sports professionals, clubs, gyms, trades businesses, construction teams, local employers, pubs, and community venues.
Support the work
Help us reach more men across Essex.
Donations help Mente Hermosa CIC create identity-led spaces, men's wellbeing resources, workshops, community activities, and subsidised access for people who may not otherwise know where to turn.
Wear the movement
Merch that starts conversations.
The Dave Network shop can bring merchandise, journals, reflection tools and audio recordings into one place, so people can support the mission directly through us rather than being sent away to a third-party shop.
Suggested merch message
Not just a logo. A quiet signal that you believe men deserve safe spaces, honest conversations, and support without shame.
Launch note
Build this into Wix Stores so merch, journals and audio products can be sold directly through The Dave Network website.
Bring The Dave Network to your space
Football clubs. Pubs. Gyms. Workplaces.
Mente Hermosa CIC is creating identity-led spaces for men to build regulation tools, rediscover who they are, and lead with emotional agility in sport, in business, and in life.
Need urgent help?
You do not have to wait.
The Dave Network is not a crisis service. If someone is in immediate danger, call 999. For 24/7 emotional support in the UK and Ireland, contact Samaritans on 116 123.