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The story of a father struggling with mental health problems
with behavior or lifestyle problems is not an uncommon story
it's clear that's fathers do experience
certainly depression
in this period of transition to becoming a father
much like women do and we are very familiar with post postpartum depression in women
and we've come to realize it's also a vulnerable period for dads
but there's been so much focus around
the health of the mother and
infant
and we haven't paid much attention to fathers. The father's mental health network
is a collaboration of researchers, educators
clinicians, community partners and knowledge users.
And its vision is to develop the best mental health care
for fathers.
and really believes in the values of
collaboration, mentorship, innovation
and excellence. The area that we're focusing on
is around health promotion and disease prevention
for fathers.
So we are really trying to engage them and better understand them
and develop processes that will help them connect
with the services
early to really prevent
disease and impact
Mental illness has an impact on the whole family
and the father plays a signifiant role
in developing and growing their family
and their illness will effect their relationships and quality
of their interactions and the attachment between the child and the parents
so any kind of intervention will have an impact on likely
all of those aspects.
There's been good evidence to show that
fathers or even expecting fathers
who experience psychological distress or symptoms of psychiatric disorders
even during pregnancy can have an impact on the development
of the child up to at least seven years of life.
We're currently exploring research project with the Family Birthing Centre
for expectant fathers in the transitional period and in March we will be
starting
a consultations service for fathers
with mental illness here at St. Joe's and this is really the first of its kind
in Canada and I am not familiar with this happening really anywhere else
so we're really excited about about that innovation
My name is Andrew Howlette and I work as a child psychiatrist here at St. Joe's.