Dads Talk (Rosebery, Sydney)

An opportunity for fathers to get together and not only talk about their experiences but to also gain some real, practical ideas around being a parent.

When: Every Wednesday 6.30pm - 8pm
Where: Level 3, 55 Mentmore Avenue, Rosebery NSW 2018
Contact: Jason or Tim on 02 8314 9494 or 0419 461 422

For many men, becoming a father changes their lives beyond belief. Your priorities change, your relationship changes and your new family demands skills, qualities and emotional capacity from you that you didn't know you had.

Today, a father's role is quite different from past generations. We believe that not only does this changing, more hands-on role need to be recognised, it also needs to be supported. Some common themes include:

• Relationship issues
• Work/Life balance
• Sleep deprivation
• Managing relatives
• Difficult emotions.

Every stage of parenthood comes with its own unique challenges. As such, this group is open to all fathers. Each member comes with their own skills and needs of the group and each has something to offer the other men. As the complexity of your role as a father unfolds and you find yourself feeling alone and without support, this on-going group is an opportunity to talk about and process the experiences you are having and find that you are not alone.

The Baby Shed: a hands on workshop for new dads (Eastlakes, Sydney)

Venue: SENC at BKK Shopping Centre Eastlakes
Dates: 14th, 21st & 28th May 2011 10am – Noon
SENC Family Support Project at South East Neighbourhood Centre is pleased to offer The Baby Shed, a hands-on workshop for new fathers originally developed by the South East Sydney Illawarra Health Father Links Project.
Who is it for? The Baby Shed is a three-week group workshop for fathers with children ideally aged 4 months or under.
What is it about? The workshop will cover the practicalities of feeding, settling, sleeping, infant communication, baby massage, and infant play as well as gaining basic understanding of infant development. The workshop will be facilitated by a Child and Family Health Nurse and two male group leaders.
How do I join? Contact John Gilbert at SENC: 02 8338 8506

Launch of the new Dads In Distress website

Dads in Distress Support Services are excited to announce that we have redeveloped our website. Now we can keep you better informed of our new and improved services and events, as well as general issues affecting fathers and families. One of the many innovative features provided by the highly professional (and sympathetic) web designers Webforce Five, is our ability to tailor-make how we help you, whether you are a dad experiencing separation, or a family member, concerned citizen, volunteer, professional or politician. By taking five minutes to join the website we can automatically alert you of only the information that is relevant or of interest to you.

New Parent Infant Network (NEWPIN) supporting fathers

NEWPIN offers parents and children a unique opportunity for positive changes in their lives and relationships, based on four core values of support, equality, empathy and respect. NEWPIN is a preventative, early intervention program, offering intensive work with families facing potential or actual child-protection issues. The award-winning program combines peer support, quality early education and personal development that is structured and therapeutic. NEWPIN centres are based in local communities and offer safe and supportive environments. There are six centres in Australia: Bidwill, Doonside, St Marys, Bidwill Fathers Program, (operated by UnitingCare Burnside). Geelong (operated by Bethany Community Support), Launceston (operated by Northern NEWPIN) and Canberra (operated by UnitingCare Kippax).

The men from Uncle making a difference in boys' lives

A mentoring project for boys with absent fathers is struggling to stay afloat, writes Saffron Howden. When Luke Chamberlain's father died suddenly of a heart attack while surfing near Byron Bay two years ago, the nine-year-old was left with his twin sisters and a loving mother. It wasn't enough. He needed a male guide: someone to take him hiking, camping and surfing; someone to talk about cars, movies, sport and girls.

An uncle was the obvious choice - and Uncle, a unique community group that for nearly 15 years has helped hundreds of boys with absent or fickle fathers find adult male mentors, provided just that. "There's a lot of boys growing up without father figures around; some of them are slack, some of them have left, some have gone off with other women," Uncle's chief executive, Mark Gasson, said. "[Uncle is] never a replacement for a dad, but it's someone in their life that they can call and say, 'I'm having this crisis."