Website to help hesitant dads tackle mental-health woes

Posted on June 14, 2014

When it comes to mental health, men - particularly young fathers - have been largely overlooked, with most of the treatment and services focused on women and new mothers.

This lapse has prompted psychiatrists Dr. Andrew Howlett at St. Joseph's Health Centre in Toronto and Dr. Benjamin Rosen at the University of Toronto to set up Canada's first Fathers Mental Health Network, a website that goes live on Sunday, Father's Day.

"The rate of depression in early fatherhood is 10 per cent - twice the general rate of depression in men," Howlett says. "There is a dire need to provide more services for fathers with mental-health problems."

Howlett blames the gap between men and women's care on the fact that it has traditionally been more difficult to engage men in addressing their overall health - never mind getting them to open up about mental-health issues.

The site, fathersmentalhealth.com, is designed to act as a mental-health information tool for both patients and doctors on services, products and research from around the world.

Click on the link below to read the full article


Source material from Globe and Mail