After an action packed few months it's great to finally take a moment to “lean against the spade” and fill you in on whit’s been happening and what we have coming up!
Men's Mental Health
We marked the start of #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek by taking part in a panel discussion on Men's Mental Health at the Edinburgh Wellbeing Festival. It was heartening to speak to the other panelists from Street Soccer Scotland, Frog Systems and the Joshua Nolan Foundation who are doing amazing work to help men through difficult times.
Our focus continues to be on supporting men's transition into fatherhood. It is estimated that more than 10,000 new dads in Scotland suffered from comorbid depression and anxiety symptoms during 2021, around 22% of those who became fathers. And yet there is very little understanding or support for them.
We are truly grateful to the PIMH Small Grant Fund who are enabling us to reach out to front line staff across Scotland. We help raise awareness of paternal mental health and support staff to engage with dad and whole families so they can get the help they need when they need it. As part of this project we are delighted to announce the next DADx event “Supporting New Dads Mental Health in Greater Glasgow & Clyde” taking place on 20 June. In partnership with Inspiring Scotland, NHSGGC, Home-Start Glasgow North & South and Dads Rock we will shine a light on the fantastic work that is being done around Glasgow to build pathways of support for new dads and partners.
Find out more and register HERE
Our New Look Website
For the past six months we’ve been squirreling away behind the scenes updating our website, which we hope will now be far more accessible and easier to navigate.
As part of the refresh we want to offer more to dads and families. We have started by creating a ‘babies & pregnancy’ section with top-tips for new-dads, articles about the changes men's bodies go through as they become fathers and how to take time off with your baby.
And we will soon be launching ‘toddlers & pre-school’ which will be packed with information on play & learning, and how dads and mums parent differently, and how to cope with challenging behaviour. so watch this space!
We have also been developing a new dynamic resource & learning hub to help professionals understand, include and support dads and whole families. The hub's relaxed space is designed specifically for busy professionals to gain inspiration, share expertise and access essential knowledge and resources. We will be testing the platform and our new Understanding Dad e-learning taster course over the summer - so if you would like to help us test out our new virtual home please sign up to the hub and we will get in touch about joining our beta testing team.
Join our Resource & Learning Hub HERE
Our Amazing Board
Earlier this year we were delighted to be joined by two new board members: Shaun Sambrook - chartered accountant working in corporate finance and dad to “an amazing three-and-a-half-year-old daughter”, and Steve Davis Senior talent and leadership development specialist coaching top teams on their people development strategy.
After five years of providing invaluable leadership and guidance as Fathers Network Scotland navigate the choppy waters during the pandemic, Willie Campbell our chair is looking to hand over the reins. So we are looking for a new Chair to guide the charity through an exciting and ambitious phase of development and lead the organisation on our mission to improve children's lives through the positive involvement of dads, father-figures & whole families.
We are looking for someone with drive , enthusiasm and the knowledge , skills, and experience to help us in the next stage of our journey. This is an exciting opportunity to provide visible and effective leadership and join a passionate and dedicated team with children’s wellbeing at its heart.
Find out more about the role HERE
Coming Up
Dad Survey 2022 - Our researcher Jessica is currently developing our new Dads Survey which we will be launching at the end of this month. We will be promoting it through social media and we would be very grateful if you could take part (if you're a dad) or share with your community.
Summer Family Adventure - We want to provide inspiration to dads and whole families on low cost or free ways to have fun and learn together. Last year, together with the Scottish Book Trust, we developed and ran a seven week long Summer Family Adventure.
It was so successful that we are refreshing our activities and rerunning it over this year's Summer Holidays so keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime if you are running an early years programme over the summer and would like to integrate the activities we would love to hear from you.