Thirty Years of Work.
One Place to Continue It.
MELD — Men’s Emotional Leadership Development — is the full expression of everything built across three decades of men’s groups, research, and relational training. This is where the work lives now.
Not Therapy. Not Self-Help.
A Capacity Development System for Men.
Most men don’t fail because they lack willpower, intelligence, or desire. They fail because no one ever gave them the physiological and relational skills that make growth possible. MELD addresses that directly.
Built on five decades of research in stress physiology, polyvagal theory, attachment theory, somatic therapy, and social genomics — MELD is a structured, science-backed system that helps men build the capacities they were never taught: body awareness, emotional fluency, authentic connection, and the ability to stay present when it matters most.
Men don’t change in isolation. They change in contact — with their own bodies, with other men, with community. MELD is designed around that biological reality.
Why the Body Has to Be Involved
When stress is chronic and unrelieved, the nervous system adapts. It disconnects. Men get good at enduring, performing, and appearing fine — while the capacity for genuine connection quietly atrophies.
The MELD approach works with physiology directly, because that’s where the patterns live. Regulate first. Then relationship becomes possible. Then community stabilizes what relationship built.
The work draws from the research of Stephen Porges, PhD (Polyvagal Theory), Peter Levine, PhD (Somatic Experiencing), Sue Johnson, PhD (EFT and attachment), and Richard Schwartz, PhD (Internal Family Systems) — and was studied and published in the American Psychological Association’s premier journal.
The Science Behind MELDEmbodied
Change begins in the body. MELD teaches men to work with their physiology — not override it — through somatic practice, nervous system regulation, and interoceptive awareness.
Relational
Insight alone doesn’t stick. Men practice emotional fluency, authentic contact, and vulnerability in real relationship — with other men, in facilitated groups and immersions.
Communal
Biology demands belonging. Community isn’t a feature of the MELD model — it’s the mechanism. Men change faster and sustain change longer when they do it together.
“I felt like the 4-day retreat was more valuable than all of the individual therapy I have been through in my life — and I am a therapist myself.”
Where to Begin — and Where to Go Next
MELD offers a progression — from foundational online training, to intensive retreat, to ongoing group coaching and professional development. Men typically start with CORE and build from there.
MELD CORE
A 10-week online program teaching the foundational somatic and relational skills of the MELD Method. The right starting point for most men — structured, accessible, immediately useful.
Learn more ?MELD PRIME
A 4-day immersive retreat. The container and depth available in person — away from daily life, with other men doing serious work — catalyzes breakthroughs that weeks of other work cannot.
Learn more ?MELD FORGE
Ongoing advanced group coaching for men who have completed foundational work and want to continue building capacity, leadership, and embodied presence in a relational container.
Learn more ?Private Coaching
Direct coaching with Owen Marcus — drawing on the full MELD framework, applied to your specific situation. For men who want the work tailored, intensified, and personally guided.
Learn more ?Men’s Groups
Facilitated men’s groups — the original form of this work, running continuously since 1995. Where skills become habits, and community becomes medicine.
Learn more ?Integrated Training
For coaches, therapists, and facilitators who want to bring the MELD model into their own practice. Live and virtual training in the somatic, relational, and communal methods.
Learn more ?
“I’m Not the Man I Want to Be.”
For a few decades, I’ve heard that phrase. The worst part isn’t the realization — it’s the feeling of being trapped. Of having tried: the self-improvement, the therapy, the working harder. And still finding the same patterns in the same moments.
The men who come to MELD aren’t broken. They’re capable, often accomplished, frequently carrying more than anyone around them knows. What they haven’t had is a structured place to practice being different — in their bodies, with other men, in honest contact.
That’s what MELD is. Not another thing to understand. A place to actually change.
Start at MELDWhat Changes
“Owen and his crew are masters of leading men and helping them journey deep into their emotional selves. Their ability to see and read men and help them explore their emotions is awe-inspiring.”
“MELD is truly life-changing. Every man should be exposed to this type of men’s work and community. The depth of connection, vulnerability, and growth that takes place here is something every man deserves to experience. It’s rare to find a space where you’re fully seen, heard, and supported by a brotherhood committed to healing and transformation.”
“I’ve noticed that for the first time in my life I’ve been able to slow down. My nervous system is much calmer, and being able to connect to people in general has become much easier. You’re going to be able to understand yourself much better, connect with people at a much deeper level — overall it’s going to enhance your relationships.”
“I went to the Prime retreat near Joshua Tree and it was life changing. I felt much freer after allowing myself to go to old deep wounds. I felt like the 4-day retreat was more valuable than all of the individual therapy I have been through in my life — and I am a therapist myself.”
“MELD is a gift to our world and men at large. As a group facilitator myself I can say with assuredness that Owen and Mike’s group facilitation is the best I have ever come across in my entire life.”
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Three Chapters, One Through Line
MELD didn’t appear fully formed. It is the product of thirty years of iteration — building what worked, discarding what didn’t, and staying close to the men being served.
Sandpoint Men’s Group
I invited eleven men into my strawbale home in Sandpoint, Idaho. What began as a personal desire to have a circle of authentic men evolved into something much larger — over 500 alumni across six active groups over two decades, including a documentary and the first research study on men’s somatic group work, published in the APA’s premier journal.
EVRYMAN
Fueled by requests to scale and train others, I co-founded EVRYMAN — taking Somaware™ and the embodied relational model to hundreds, then thousands of men globally. EVRYMAN enabled the methodology to reach men who never would have found a local men’s group.
MELD — Men’s Emotional Leadership Development
With co-founder Duncan Rich and the core team, I transitioned out of EVRYMAN to establish MELD — preserving and amplifying everything built across the previous three decades, now restructured as the MELD Method with extended offerings for therapists, businesses, individuals, and group immersions. This is where the work lives now. Read the full story ?
Duncan Rich on Leaving EVRYMAN
Duncan Rich, who co-founded MELD with me, wrote about his experience leaving EVRYMAN in a deeply vulnerable and authentic way. His reflection — Why I Left Evryman — opens a window into what was happening behind the curtain: the emotional weight of stewardship, the cost of change, and what it means to let go of something you built in order to build something truer.
Reading Duncan’s words is its own form of the work. It is the kind of honesty MELD was built to make possible.
The Work is at MELD.
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