A helping hand for new dads

Simon Moore, a registered nurse and the founder of the Bellarine-based men’s support group Strong Dads, believes more needs to be done to support new dads to navigate the unique challenges associated with fatherhood.

He’s now calling on the Victorian government to recognise this gap in the healthcare system and establish what he has dubbed a “Dads Nurse”.

To gather support and raise awareness for the idea, Moore last month launched a petition urging the government to create such a role.

He said the ideal outcome would be the creation of a paid, permanent role within a hospital setting that combines mental health nursing with acute hospital nursing to engage dads into the healthcare system, helping to enhance their wellbeing and assist them through a period of significant change.

This engagement, Moore said, could encompass healthcare services as simple as blood pressure, cholesterol and blood checks, while also meeting men’s mental health needs.

“Working and communicating with dads is hard. It’s the busiest time of their life and they are really, really tricky as a cohort to communicate with,” Moore said.

“I think the dads nurse role needs to be an experienced dad themselves to understand the culture differences [between men and women] and the healthcare system and be that facilitator to translate and get the different levels of communication or services appropriate for the individual.

“And helping those dads really figure out their roles and their level of expectation, because there is a societal expectation that dads are involved in the care of their baby and so we need the services to support that.”

He said that if the healthcare system continues to leave out half the parenting population, we would continue to see intergenerational trauma passed down through families.

“If the dad is really not doing well, is isolated and maybe is suffering from post-natal depression or anxiety, which affects one in four men, then the whole household suffers.

“If we’re able to prevent those numbers with those wellbeing interventions and really facilitate the healthy transition into fatherhood, then we’re looking at a healthy dad.”

To view the petition, head to gopetition.com/petitions/support-the-dads-nurse-initiative.html

Or for more information, contact Simon Moore on 0402 725 510 or email [email protected]