Dad Matters Merseyside

We're recruiting a Dad Matters Co Ordinator! - Homestart Warrington and Cheshire 👨‍👧‍👦 Home-Start Warrington & Cheshire is on the lookout for a new recruit to champion our Dad Matters programme. If you’re all about supporting dads and dads-to-be through the rollercoaster of the perinatal period, you might just be the one! 🚼 We’re after a Dad Matters Co-ordina...

New paternity pay rules in force from today blasted as an 'insult' to families The UK has the least generous paternity leave entitlement in Europe

On my way to that there London to give evidence at the Birth Trauma Inquiry on behalf of the dads we work with who have experience birth trauma.

Do you remember the first time you held your little one?

I remember it clearly for both of them.

Terrified to hold them, how to pick them up, where to put my hand… and relief that they were here and safe and their mum was ok too.

This picture was the first time I held both of my daughters at the same time.

Proud? Yes
Scared? A little
Prepared? More than I was the first time
Confident? Probably a little more than I should’ve been.

Those feelings we get in the early days are shaped by our expectations, our experiences, our knowledge and also our biology. Knowing I’d get more emotional due to drops in testosterone, and that prolonged crying might feel really difficult to manage for similar reasons would have helped me immensely back then.

And here we are - Dad Matters is supporting thousands of dads a year to understand these things and hundreds of dads a year with more targeted one to one support.

I have also learned that I should never ever shave again - NEVER!

Kieran

Mental health issues are harder to spot and deal with than many of us think. All of these things we talk about here …improving our nutrition, exercise, sleep, people around us — those are just tools (in above all else) trying to keep our mind in a stable place. What are powerful video as a reminder to us that we just don’t know who struggling so please give everyone the benefit of the doubt. ❤️👍 🎥 @brain_p0wer

This a video I took just after my dad died, I’d spent the day making phone calls to let people know. I didnt want to hide how I felt, or how hard it was. It didn’t get easier, I just got better at looking after myself and recognising when I wasn’t ok. Make sure you know what helps you, whether it’s a person, a place, and activity, a group, a service, a professional or a mixture, and use it as soon as you know you need to!