Why Are We Here?
This Lesson is a short summary of the whole course! If you’re short on time or if your engagement with dads is fleeting and you don’t need to take the whole course, this Lesson provides the key takeaway points from each Chapter in the course, both in text and video format.
You will also find all of these videos at the end of each Chapter, along with downloadable versions of the Key Takeaway Points below.
Interactions
Key Takeaway Points:
Acknowledge dads, say hello and check in to see how they are doing.
Support dads to recognise that it is common to struggle with difficult feelings as a new parent.
Remind dads that they can access services, and framing their wellbeing as important for the overall health of their family.
Consider:
Where you come across dads in your current role and how those interactions could be modified.
What conversations you have with dads about perinatal wellbeing and mental health.
How often talk to dads about what support they and their family can access.
Information
Key Takeaway Points:
Have a good understanding of what is available to dads locally and sharing this information
Provide practical information on how dads can support the baby’s other parent, especially postnatally.
Encourage dads to think of ways that they can bond with their baby at all stages
Facilitate discussions about how relationships around dads might change and what can be done to manage this and maintain a support network.
Consider:
Your knowledge of national, regional and local services for dads.
Your knowledge of dads’ role in supporting their co-parent and bonding with their baby.
How much do you talk to dads about support networks, including intimate, familial and friend relationships?
Getting Practical
Key Takeaway Points:
Don’t just expect dads to turn up, market your services in the places they spend time, meet dads where they’re at.
Think about the needs and barriers dads are facing and design with these in mind
By understanding a dads’ whole journey through your system, micro changes can be made at all different ‘touch points’ to give dads a positive experience. Understanding their journey also allows you to think outside the box about who you might need to include in your work towards including dads.
Consider:
What points of contact dads have with your service and what they look like at the moment.
How those points of contact make a dad feel.
How each point of contact could be modified to transform dads’ experiences.
The One Minute Interaction
Key Takeaway Points:
The One Minute Interaction is a simple, low resource way to transform dads’ experiences of interacting with your service, dads in Kent have designed the ‘One Minute Interaction’.
To learn more about implementation you can watch the video in this Lesson and download our Dads’ Perinatal Inclusion Playbook in the Lesson ‘The One Minute Interaction’.