'Dads Matter Worldwide' is to be launched on June 15th (Father's Day) this year!
The founder of the organisation; Mark Williams has founded many social awareness projects and believes that men should have insight, education and awareness before becoming father's.
Many men and fathers all over the world similar to Mark do not understand the difficulties that can arise before and when a baby arrives.
Mark didn't understand what pre-postnatal depression and postnatal depression were and he struggled to come to terms with the trauma first hand during the birth of his child, resulting in his first ever panic attack. His panic attack was brought on by the fear of the unknown and utter overwhelming feelings of worry, worry that his wife and baby might come to harm during the birth.
As we know prevention of depression is vitally important before the situation gets to crisis point. If we can educate everyone, both male and female on the same even level, this can reach out and help more fathers come forward to seek help and end the stigma of the illness which is depression.
The most recent research shows that 1 in 10 fathers could have postnatal depression, this can result in many areas of their lives being significantly damaged. We also know that mothers are able to have 'Birth Trauma' and are very rightly treated for this, however some fathers are also witnessing what is happening in the same room. If you read what birth trauma is detailed below, you can understand why this needs to be highlighted.
Birth Trauma.
An experience involving the threat of death or serious injury to an individual or another person close to them (e.g. their baby).
A response of intense fear, helplessness or horror to that experience. The persistent recurring fears of the event by way of intrusive memories, flashbacks and nightmares.
The individual will usually feel distressed, anxious or panicky when exposed to things which remind them of the event.
Avoidance of anything that reminds them of the trauma, this can include talking about it, although sometimes women may go through a stage of talking and envisaging their traumatic experience so that it obsesses them at times.
Bad memories and the need to avoid any reminders of the trauma, will often result in difficulties with sleeping and concentrating. Sufferers may also feel angry, irritable and be hyper vigilant (feel jumpy or on their guard at all times).
Could this be one of the reasons why men don't talk? This is possibly because they wish not to revisit the trauma of the birth. It was only a few years ago that there was higher profile of education about soldiers suffering in silence from PTSD in the armed forces.
It was only a few years ago that some people were laughing about postnatal depression in men and many still laugh today.
We are in a world with education at our finger tips. Dads Matter Worldwide aims to give dads the education and awareness for all professionals who are involved with new fathers and families to understand how this can effect anyone.
Our aim
Our aim is to highlight that for every mother going through postnatal depression there is a father potentially going through the same traumas. Health professional need to support families as a whole, father's included.
Dads Matter Worldwide believes that the quicker the help, the quicker the recovery. We aim to educate everyone on the impact of perinatal mental health and make sure that everyone remembers that "Dads Matter Worldwide" too!