Mental Health and Fatherhood with Diversity Dad

I recently had the pleasure of being invited to sit down with @DiversityDad, Jama’l Chukueke. I guess Jama’l had noticed some of my posts on social media about my 3-year old daughter and how she cracks me up. He asked if I would join him to discuss writing and fatherhood. The discussion ventured into mental health as well.

The bad news is that there were issues with the sound quality on half the interview, so the 30 minute interview is cut down to about 12 minutes. The good news is that you get to listen to 12 (hopefully) insightful minutes of discussion. It’s likely that we may sit down again for a Part 2 as well.

If you are unfamiliar with @DiversityDad, and I suspect many of you probably are, Jama’l’s aim is “create an on-going conversation with fellow dads and father figures about this very important role we [have] the honor to play…Diversity Dad was created to build a community of dads to provide resources on fatherhood within their unique fatherhood journey. We want to support dads regardless of their parenting situation – whether it’s dealing with toddlers, teens, divorce, separation, or adoption; we are here for you. Our goal is to “buck conventionally” and celebrate doing fatherhood differently.”

I find Jama’l’s efforts commendable. There seems to be a terrific network of support for mothers and great reverence (in my experience) to the role mothers play, but there is almost a caricature of fathers in our society perpetuated mostly by us men. Anyone that works to spread the joy and gift that fatherhood is, while underscoring the importance of being a father, should be commended in my estimation. So thank you Jama’l.

You can find the podcast on Sticher or iTunes.

Stitcher Radio (for Android Devices)

iTunes (for iTunes Devices)

Check it out and share it around! I would love to hear thoughts, so please do share what you think.

Find more writing and publishing tips at Nothing Any Good.