PRESS RELEASE

International Father’s Mental Health Day

INVITATION – Dad Matters UK Conference

University of Bolton Stadium

20^th June 2022

9am – 4pm

On International Father’s Mental Health Day, Dad Matters UK is hosting a sold out conference in Bolton, with guests from across the UK. We will hear from Dad Matters project leads and coordinators, commissioning leads, clinical leads and other stakeholders.

Crucially though, we will hear from some of the dads who have been supported by Dad Matters in various capacities.

Dad Matters UK is a Home-Start project, supporting new dads and dads to be with attachment and bonding, mental health and accessing services through a layered approach to universal engagement, targeted peer support and one to one referrals. Our aim is provide babies with the best start to life, by reaching their dads with information and support that they may not receive elsewhere.

Last year in GM we engaged with 2150 dads universally, in antenatal clinics, hospital car parks, drop ins and targeted support groups.

We saw 113 dads through referrals from services such as Perinatal Mental Health, Maternity, Health Visiting, NICU, and the inpatient Mother and Baby Unit.

We spoke to, promoted our work with, and trained over 1000 professionasl last year, including midwife and health visiting students at Greater Manchester Universities, and professionals working across our area and nationally.

We now have 11 other UK areas delivering the Dad Matters project through their local Home-Start Schemes, including Dad Matters Cymru, Dad Matters Leeds and Dad Matters Glasgow North to name just 3.

Kieran Anders, Operations Manager said “We want to take the opportunity of our 5th birthday to celebrate what we have achieved in the last 5 years with the people who helped us to get there, the dads and volunteers we have encountered along the way, and with those people and organisations who are passionate about supporting babies, dads and families in an innovative, collective way.”

 

• 1 in 10 dads suffer from PND – that’s 75,000 dads each year in the UK
• An average of 10.4% of fathers are depressed both pre- and post-natally, with the peak time for fathers’ depression being between three and six months post-birth (Paulson & Brazemore, 2010)
• 24%-50% of new dads with partners suffering from depression were also affected by depression themselves (Goodman, 2004)
• Up to 38% of new dads are worried about their mental health (NCT)
• 33% of young fathers wanted support for their mental health and there was nothing for them (NCT)
• 20% of new dads felt completely isolated during their first year of fatherhood (Movember)
• 33% of dads were stressed during the perinatal period (Movember)
• Fathers with perinatal mental health problems are 47 times more likely to be rated as a suicide risk than at any other time in their lives (Quevedo et al, 2010)
• And there are at least 600,000 male suicides each year (with the figure probably even higher in reality, due to the stigma surrounding suicide)

 

Mike, a supported dad said “I got a huge amount of support from Dad Matters UK. Helping me day by day. Talking to me. Checking up on me. Listening to me. I wanted to give back to an organisation that helped me through the toughest four months of my life; without Dad Matters and Dan, I don’t think I would be here.”

He continued “I now volunteer for Dad Matters UK and facilitate Walk ‘n’ Talks in the Bolton area, and provide Outreach to the Dads to be and new Dads of Bolton. I’m hoping to give more time in the future because Dad does Matter.”

Read more here – dadmatters.org.uk/mikes-story/

One of our Dad Matters Coordinators, Dan, reflected “‘Looking back, I think it’s highly likely that I did experience post-natal depression. If I’d had Dad Matters, when I had my kids, I think my experiences would have been really different.”

Another dad, Job, who received support while his partner was unwell said

“All dads just want the mums to be better, so we concentrate on the mums more, to make sure everything is ok, and to be honest we don’t look after ourselves.  If you’re not alright, you give signals out to the baby, even though you don’t know.”

Steve, a dad who reached out to us during the first covid lockdown, said

‘If Dad Matters hadn’t come into my life when they did, I have said that I am not sure if I would still be here.  And that’s hard to think about. Services like Dad Matters, they literally save peoples lives.’

We are also really proud to announce that we have the amazing Dr Anna Machin as key note speaker, who will be able to help us think about fatherhood from an evolutionary and scientific perspective.

Finally, we will finish the day with some short workshops to help us determine the focus for Dad Matters going forward for both localities and regionally/nationally.

Brought to you in conjunction with Bolton Wanderers in the Community!

-ENDS-

Notes to editors

Dad Matters is a Home-Start project, helping babies to have the best relationships with their dads by supporting new dads and dads-to-be with attachment and bonding, mental health and accessing services.

Established in 2017 in Tameside, Greater Manchester, Dad Matters UK is an ambition for babies and their parents to understand their relationships and fulfil their potential. Working with various statutory services, such as maternity, health visiting, mental health and third sector, we reach dads universally with information and education, and individually within a referral framework for more specific support.

We deliver training for professionals, collaborate with many different organisations to provide support, information and education, and co-produce materials and resources for and with dads alongside our clinical colleagues.

How have we grown since we started in 2017?

 

Year One

• 1 Coordinator
• 20 Dads in Referrals
• 200 Dads in Universal
• 300 Professionals seen

 

Year Three

• 2 Coordinators
• 45 Dads in Referrals
• 700 Dads in Universal
• 450 Professionals seen

 

Year Five

• 7 Coordinators (plus 8 in UK)
• 166 Dads in Referrals
• 2223 Dads in Universal
• 1000+ Professionals seen

Dad Matters is now delivered by local Home-Start schemes across Greater Manchester, Gloucestershire, Warrington, Blackpool Fylde and Wyre, Glasgow North, Leeds, Somerset, Warwickshire, Suffolk and Surrey, with new schemes coming onboard regularly.

For access to the conference, quotes, information and any more details, please contact Kieran, Operations Manager for Dad Matters UK.

Kieran Anders – 07936359544 – kierananders@homestarthost.org.uk

Hashtags – #IFMHD2022 #DadMatters2022