Maidstone dads set up charity to support other men's mental wellbeing

DadSpace has set out to help fathers handle the daily challenges of being a husband and parent.

Transcript

00:00 The pub. A place to socialise, laugh and have a good pint.

00:04 But the Albion Inn in Maidstone has served as a special place for dads to come together

00:10 and support one another. This is a support session held by the charity

00:15 Dadspace, which strives to create brotherly support between fathers.

00:19 How does Dadspace help the mental wellbeing of dads?

00:23 Well, let's go into one of their sessions and find out.

00:28 Members of Dadspace meet to talk about what's on their minds,

00:32 whether that be partners, work or the arrival of a new child.

00:36 So the inspiration for Dadspace comes from my own experience as a father.

00:41 After the birth of our second child, Maya, my wife and I become quite disconnected.

00:47 She was struggling with breastfeeding and sleep and as a father I didn't really know

00:55 how to help her and I was in my in myself I was struggling worried about financially

01:01 whether I'd be able to support my family and whether I'd be a good dad and I was really

01:06 sort of thinking well where can I go to talk about these these things and that and

01:10 you know and that's sort of the inspiration of where Dadspace come from.

01:14 In the two years since it's been running, Dadspace has already won October's Kent Mental

01:20 Wellbeing Awards and has plans to open up a new space in Ashford.

01:25 But how have dads felt after each meeting?

01:28 It's helped me a lot from two years ago when I first joined Dadspace roughly I was in quite

01:34 a dark place mentally and needed some help so my wife put me in touch with Dadspace,

01:41 reached out and to then they invited me along for a meet and from then I've been coming ever since.

01:47 As a father it's helped me realise that actually my problems are not unique and that there are

01:53 many fathers that are struggling with their day-to-day life being a dad so it's helped

01:59 me understand in terms of actually yeah it's okay as a dad to struggle.

02:03 With 2024 around the corner, Dadspace will stop at nothing to go the extra mile

02:10 to help dads across the county.

02:12 Henry Luck for KMTV in Maidstone.