This is an article I wrote and was published on January 17th 2011 on The Times Schoolgate blog run by Sarah Ebner. I live in one of the most challenging inner-city London boroughs. Gun and knife crime are serious social issues here, but right behind them is teenage pregnancy. All of these change lives. You [...]
Last week I was invited by Working with Men to the final day of their new initiative – The Speakeasy presentation, which aims to help young fathers learn how to design and deliver a public presentation on fatherhood. I was moved to tears as I listened to the young fathers speak about ‘Why dads matter’ [...]
I think there’s a certain amount of satisfaction we all get when we help unravel a puzzle, complex situation or something as simple as reading a map for someone lost. It is such a good feeling and I am sure someone will tell me there is a release of endorphins – I wouldn’t disagree, at [...]
In my last blog Challenges of a young father, I highlighted what a young father is up against; but today I want to talk quickly about the impact a mentoring relationship has on a young father: 1. Raise aspirations – because of the family background a young father comes from and low educational attainment, it [...]
It is easy to read about young fathers, the risk factors they face and assume you know everything there is to know about them. Risk factors are given as guidelines for people who either write about or work with them on what the true challenges maybe. Prior to setting up the mentoring scheme I run [...]
The past two weeks have been a roller coaster for me! Holding on to dreams that seemed dashed, but still believing they can and will come through! Last week, London had the Tube strike on Monday and by Tuesday we started seeing traces of what the weather held in stock for us. I had scheduled [...]
If you have been following my ‘not-so-regular’ blogs, then you will have read about my 1st meeting with Kevin (my then potential mentee) Read it here. That was in the summer, and I have been quietly confident all these weeks and months since then. Our 2nd meeting was emotional – well at least for me. [...]
Some of you know I set up DCT after my experience in New York over 4 years ago; and how that changed my life, leading me to all that I do now. If don’t know then you can read about it here Today I am on a ‘high’! Most days I am whenever I run [...]
