There was a graduation ceremony April 12 for men who completed the Fathers in Action Network program by Youth Services of Bryan County.
It is a fatherhood group through Youth Services of Bryan County and it’s a brand-new program being offered in the county. It is a six-week program designed to strengthen and empower fathers to be powerful role models and mentors for the betterment of their children’s future. There are two 2-hour sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Stefan Roberts, program director of the Fathers in Action network, spoke before the completion certificates were presented to the fathers.
“I want to let you guys know that this has been an amazing trip for all of us and I’m so proud to have been able to be here with you guys,” Roberts said. “This is a first for us, a first for you guys but I want you guys to know that this is not the end. This is the beginning because we are moving forward.
“You are actively fathers in action. You’ve made that choice to take action to go out and create change into your future and for your children’s future and in turn, when we’re talking about the generational changes, is your children are going to be that generational change.
“This is what we’re talking about with a generational change and you guys that’s why I expressed to you about how important it is that you’re in the program and how big of a change that you all are making and a commitment that was made. I just want to tell you, thank you, and like I said, this is not the end. This is the beginning and we look forward to seeing you guys and don’t forget about us, we’re here. Come talk to us anytime you want.”
Larry St. Laurent is one of the fathers who completed the program and he said it has given him hope.
“It gives a chance to get my family back together and being a father for my son,” St. Laurent said. “Actually being a productive member of the family and being able to raise him and break the cycle of abuse and trauma.”
He said the program brought the fathers together and taught them to rely on each other, talk about the issues they are all facing and work through them together as a group.
“It’s given us a tool set that’s incomparable to what we already knew,” St. Laurent said. “Like what we knew was nothing compared to what they actually taught us. They taught us different ways to deal with our own self, to make ourselves better so that we that we can be more involved in our families.”
Robert Ellis said he enrolled in the program because he has a younger son who needs him but there has been a lot of interference.
“I always wanted to be a better dad and so when we have bigger obstacles sometimes, we have to figure out how to overcome that and there’s a lot of things in this class that I’ve been through before and being together as a group helped,” Ellis said. “Also, this group continues on afterwards because there’s going to be an alumni where we can still reach out to each other if we need to and stop by here and talk to some of the administrators. It’s a way where fathers can still connect to learn how to not just be better dads, but also in a community to be able to connect with other dads and help each other through some of our struggles. Life brings many struggles and most of the time, they’re outside of the family so it can be really good.”
Ellis said that as people, they should all stand with one another.
“As men, we have similarities where we can help one another,” Ellis said. “Women seem to have quite a few groups and I think men need to be able to imitate some of those things as well.”
Roberts said the program is based on an evidence- based curriculum called 24-7 Dad.
“In the curriculum, they teach the dads basically how to learn to love themselves and know their role as a father is important in a child’s life to prevent certain things in the longevity of it,” Roberts said. “If you’ll look at the statistics of fatherless children, I think it’s right now, 17.6 million children in the United States do not have a father figure in their lives or that type of role to mentor them. With that, comes an elevated risk of things like law enforcement contact, substance abuse, physical abuse and that type of nature. Truancy from school, under-aged pregnancy. These things are dramatically cut down when the father figure is in the life.”
According to Roberts, the program teaches fathers to overcome barriers that might prevent them from being more involved in their children’s lives. Personal issues such as self-esteem are addressed in the program and the fathers are taught about how to speak with the children, communicate with co-parents and address things such as anger management and financial issues.
“Really, it’s a lot about teaching the dads accountability and responsibility as a dad in a child’s role and how important they are,” Roberts said. “One of the things that we really hit on here too is the coparenting part of it which a lot of people don’t get into that and we talk to the dads about how important it is to have that relationship with the co-parent of the child because you have to have a balance there so that you can be in a child’s life and know that’s where the communication comes in and other things like that. It’s really in-depth on emotional health, physical health, mental health, all of that stuff.”
For more information on the program, contact Youth Services of Bryan County at (580) 924-6263.
