In the Company of Men: Who We Are And How We Become

When Patricia Carlson walked through the doors of a men’s homeless shelter in Fredericton, New Brunswick, in 1995, she had no idea how profoundly her life-and the lives of countless others-would be changed. As the first female director of a shelter that catered to men, she entered a world of loss, laughter, faith, and survival, where the boundaries between helper and helped began to blur.

Over twelve transformative years, Patricia bore witness to the human spirit in all its rawness and resilience, from moments of chaos and heartbreak to acts of astonishing tenderness and grace. Alongside men whom society had cast aside, she discovered the deeper meaning of service, that to truly help others is to be remade by them in return.

Told with unflinching honesty, humour, and compassion, In the Company of Men pulls back the curtain on non-profit work-its bureaucratic battles, its moral contradictions, and its small, hard-won triumphs. Through vivid stories of friendship, grief, and redemption, Patricia illuminates what it means to be fully human in a world too often blind to its own brokenness.

For anyone who has ever worked in the trenches of social service, volunteered in a shelter, or simply wondered what happens to those our systems forget, this book offers a searing exposé and a hymn to hope.