BeingDad

Aim

BeingDad wants to create an environment for dads to thrive, learn and build a support network on a par with what's available for Mum's.

What is BeingDad?

We founded BeingDad after the birth of our child in April 2019. We felt that, whilst understandable, all the courses for pre and post-natal experiences were run almost exclusively for women by women, there was very little for dads.

After a traumatic birth experience, Nicky was offered support, both physical and mental, but there was nothing for George. Our aim is to run informal workshops to educate Dads-to-be on what to expect when their little one arrives, from labour through to the first weeks with baby. Eventually we aim to incorporate post-natal mental health courses for Dads, Dad and baby play sessions and baby first. 

We believe that Dads are an essential part of the family unit. We want Dads to thrive. 

Our Plan

Our plan is split. The face-to-face education and the online knowledge sharing. BeingDad is crowdfunding to increase our face-to-face capability. We ran our first BecomingDad workshop in October and it was a huge success, the feedback we received was incredible. However, we currently lack the financial capital to expand and bring our essential workshops to a wider audience. 

We have been live on Social Media for 4 months and in this time have reached over 20,000 people with our posts; with feedback from people throughout the UK having been incredibly positive. 

What is our BecomingDad Workshop?

A 2 hour introduction to the world of fatherhood. Created by Being Dad, based on experience with Evie, consultation with other new fathers and backed by evidence provided by Midwives, Health Visitors and the NHS. The session is a small and informal gathering of dads-to-be, coming together to learn practical skills and find out how to care for their new arrival. 

"I would recommend the Being Dad class to any "Dad to be". The class gives you basic practical skills and knowledge and certainly helped me feel more confident about becoming a father." - Tom, expectant Father on our first workshop. 

What will we do with the money?

We will use the money in two ways. 

£150 will be used to fund 15 reduced workshop places for low income families as we believe when wanting to become a good dad - money shouldn't be a factor. 

£350 will be spent on high fidelity CPR manikins so that we can launch our baby first aid courses. These courses will be open to all and will cost around £20 for the two hours. The low cost of this essential workshop will make sure that it is open for all. This course will be delivered by an experienced Paramedic.

The future?

In early 2020 we are going to be running BecomingDad workshops in London, Bournemouth and Poole. Following on from a hopefully successful 'Crowdfunder' we shall be running frequent first aid workshops - at least 8 per year. 

We are incredibly passionate about BeingDad and improving the antenatal experience for Dads. We want to take our workshops nationwide and help as many dads as possible. To do this we want to recruit more Dads to deliver our content throughout the UK. 

Online Content

As well as our face-to-face workshops we have a range of reviews, advice articles and blogs online. We do this to help dads in areas that we can't reach with our workshops. Our face-to-face growth will help fund the online expansion. 

This project successfully funded on 24th December 2019