This week for the These Dads Are Doing It Right series I am putting the spotlight on dads who are turning pain into purpose. These fathers wrote books, started up groups or connected with others to help those in need during difficult times. In addition, if there are any other dads that you think we should check out leave their name and info in the comment section below.
Stephen Panus – Walk On
In today’s world, grief and adversity are everywhere, causing many to suffer and lose hope. From the depths of darkness and greatest loss emerges an intimate, candid, and raw story of a father’s search for meaning following tragedy. Walk On is a resilience-centered guidebook for overcoming struggle while teaching that the path to a purposeful life filled with kindness, compassion, and service resides within all of us. Drawing upon his wisdom and leadership experience, Stephen Panus provides real-world applications of indispensable values and traits for becoming the best version of ourselves. We all suffer in some manner, but no matter what happens or how it happens, we all must Walk On.
Justin Yopp and Don Rosenstein – The Widowed Parent
The Widowed Parent project is committed to supporting widowed mothers and fathers with children in the home. Their work began in 2010 when Justin and Don started a support group for fathers who had lost their spouses to cancer. The men in the group taught them firsthand the unique challenges facing widowed parents. Soon after, they launched a website and conducted a research study that included over 400 fathers. They have expanded their focus to include all widowed parents regardless of cause of death. In addition they have a website and the current research projects to support those in need. To learn more go to their website.
Charles Bock – I Will Do Better
The novelist Charles Bock was a reluctant parent, tagging along for the ride of fatherhood, obsessed primarily with his dream of a writing career. But when his daughter Lily was six months old, his wife, Diana, was diagnosed with a complex form of leukemia. Two and half years later, when all treatments and therapies had been exhausted, Bock found himself a widower. He was devastated, drowning in medical bills, and saddled with a daunting responsibility. He had to nurture Lily, and, somehow, maybe even heal himself. I Will Do Better is Charles’s pull-no-punches account of what happened next. Playdates, music classes, temper tantrums, oh-so-cool babysitters, first days at school, family reunions, single-parent dating, and a citywide crippling natural disaster were minefields especially treacherous for Charles and Lily because of their preexisting vulnerability: their grief.
Guys and Grief – Brad, Brandon, and Brian
The Guys and Grief podcast launched in January 2023. It is the first podcast specifically for men focused on pregnancy or infant loss in North America. In addition it is only the second podcast of its kind in the world. Hosts Brad, Brandon, and Brian have all experienced the heartbreak of losing a child. They are grieving fathers that have been through the unthinkable. They want to help others by talking about the unique, and often undiscussed, perspective of men that have experienced child loss. Unfortunately, after such a life-changing experience, they have struggled to find resources that were specifically for men in support of navigating this grieving process. So they hope to help others with their podcast.