The Dad Project

She had a miscarriage during her book tour. The publicity kept going. She kept going. She’d never spoken about it publicly, until now. Jaspreet Kaur is a poet, author of Brown Girl Like Me, and one of the clearest voices writing about identity, gender, and what it means to grow up South Asian in Britain. In this conversation, she talks about the father who shaped everything, the research that took...

Clarke Carlisle sits down with Naroop to talk about what it really took to find out who he is, not the footballer, not the public figure, but the man underneath all of it. They go into his childhood, his relationship with his father, five suicide attempts, alcohol and gambling addiction, the shame of knowing his children felt like an inconvenience, and the slow, difficult work of becoming the husb...

He found out he had cancer. That same evening, he had a show. He went on stage and sang his heart out, and nobody in that room knew. This is one of the most honest conversations we've had on The Dad Project. Jaz opens up about his Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis, losing his brother Harvey to brain cancer, the lifetime of suppressed emotion that he believes contributed to his illness, and how meditati...

She runs one of the fastest-growing safety organisations in the world. She trains women, works with men, and has been in 120 countries. And on a packed train - she froze. Amy Watson is the founder of HASSL, working to end male violence by changing culture from the ground up, not just giving women more things to do to stay safe. We cover what men misunderstand about women's daily reality, why heali...

What does it feel like to grow up disabled, be told no one would marry you, and carry 17 years of silent pain — all while building one of the most respected charities in the Midlands? Amo Raju OBE sits down with Naroop Jhooti for one of the most raw, unfiltered conversations The Dad Project has ever hosted. Amo shares the stories he's never told publicly, the aunties who wrote him off at age 8, th...

What happens when a man who smuggled £100 million worth of cocaine walks back into the same prison that once held him, but this time as the person offering hope? Andrew Pritchard lived several lives in one lifetime. Sound system operator in the acid house era. Warehouse rave promoter hunted by police task forces. International drug smuggler moving metric tons of cocaine. High security Category A p...

What happens when a young boy desperate to fit in becomes a man who finally learns to stand out? Ketan Ganatra grew up as the only Asian family on a council estate in South East London. Every day was hostile. Spat at. Punched. Racially abused by neighbours, teachers and strangers. He hid his pain from his parents, mapped routes through school corridors to avoid skinheads and learned to survive by...

What happens when a man achieves everything he dreamed of and then loses the very thing that gave his life meaning? Paul Sampson played 17 years of professional rugby. He was the fastest schoolboy in the country. He earned his England cap before he was 21. From the outside, he had it all—speed, talent, recognition and a career most could only dream of. But behind the tries and the caps, Paul was c...

What happens when a water cooler delivery becomes the spark that changes thousands of lives? Shaz Memon was standing in his office when a heavy water bottle slipped from his hands and rolled down the stairs. In that moment, a simple thought crossed his mind, what if this could help solve a problem he'd known about for years? That thought became Wells and Wheels, a charity that has transformed the...

What happens when a Premier League footballer achieves everything he dreamed of and still feels like he’s drowning? Marvin Sordell lived the dream. Premier League football. England Under-21s. Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics. From the outside, he had it all. Inside, he was breaking. At 21 he was playing for his country while fighting severe depression. At 23 he thought about retiring. At 28 he...

What happens when a trusted friend becomes a child's worst nightmare? Jeremy Indica was eight years old when his father's friend began sexually abusing him. For over a year, in his own home, under his father's nose, a predator groomed and violated him and Jeremy told no one. Not because he didn't want to. Because he didn't even know he could. This is one of the most difficult, necessary, and power...

Reshma Patel spent years living the life she thought she was supposed to live. A comfortable marriage. Children. A stable home. A successful career as a dietitian. From the outside everything looked perfect, but inside she felt lost, disconnected and unsure of who she really was. When her marriage ended in her mid-30s, her entire identity collapsed. She had never paid bills, never handled finances...

Jason Smith spent years climbing the corporate ladder until he realised he was outsourcing his entire role as a dad. He left his job to be present for his son, but when the routine disappeared he felt lost. His identity collapsed, his confidence vanished and his physical and mental health spiralled. Within 18 months he was warned he was heading towards type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high ch...

Chris Davies grew up in chaos. Violence, instability and emotional neglect shaped his early years and left deep marks he carried into adulthood. After his father died, he felt a strong pull to create legacy and purpose, so he joined the Royal Marines. The training, the identity and the intensity gave him structure, but it also deepened the emotional numbness he had learned as a child. In this conv...

Glen Ross is an integrative psychotherapist and brain coach who works with men struggling across the full spectrum of mental health. In this conversation he explains why so many men feel disconnected, overwhelmed and stuck in survival mode without realising it. Glen breaks down dopamine driven “over masculinity,” the loss of empathy and connection in modern men and the emotional cost of always bei...

Dilan spent two years living with symptoms he didn’t understand. Itchy skin, night sweats, fatigue and lumps in his neck all appeared long before he realised something was wrong. He thought it was stress, heat or dry skin. He never imagined cancer. Two weeks before his 25th birthday he went to the GP. The doctor printed a referral form and the word “cancer” was written at the top. On his 25th birt...

René Carayol built a global career advising leaders, CEOs and prime ministers. But behind the authority and confidence was a man raised to be strong, silent and unshakeable. Growing up in a Gambian family, he learned early that men do not talk about fear, grief or weakness. They keep moving. In this conversation René opens up about losing his mother young, becoming a single father and carrying emo...

Harj spent years trapped in a gambling addiction that controlled every part of his life. He hid his behaviour, lied to the people he loved and spiralled into more than £200,000 of losses, debt, fear and shame. The addiction took over quietly, and he carried the weight alone. Everything changed the day his young son looked at him and said, “I’m so lucky.” That moment broke him. It forced him to see...

Reed Domingo’s life reads like a film. He grew up in a loving family, built a successful life in California and spent years trying to become a father through IVF. After nine failed rounds, heavy debt and constant pressure, he slowly unravelled. The stress pushed him into growing weed and eventually to the darkest moment of his life, when he sat alone with a gun in his mouth and thought about endin...

Jacky Power is a therapist and poet who specialises in addiction and men’s emotional wellbeing. In this conversation she explains what shame really feels like, why men hide their pain and how unresolved emotions shape behaviour in ways most people never see. Jacky talks about anger, frustration and the nervous system responses that men slip into when they feel overwhelmed. She describes how boys l...

In this deeply emotional episode of The Dad Project, siblings Govind and Jasleen open up about their turbulent childhood growing up in a household marked by parental conflict, alcohol abuse, and emotional trauma. Together, they explore: ⦿ The long-term impact of witnessing domestic tension ⦿ How childhood shaped their views on relationships and masculinity ⦿ Why Jasleen became a “defender” of her...

Jasleen and Govind grew up in a home filled with conflict, secrecy and emotional instability. Their mother would often escape to Jasleen’s room to cry and share adult problems with her, including their father’s affairs and anger. From as young as age 10, Jasleen became her mother’s emotional protector, carrying burdens no child should hold. Govind experienced the same chaos and felt forced to grow...

Prashil spent three years carrying emotional weight that was never his to hold. He poured everything into supporting someone else and slowly lost his identity in the process. When the relationship ended, he finally stopped and realised he no longer recognised the person staring back at him in the mirror. In this episode Prashil talks honestly about burnout, self abandonment, emotional overload and...

Juggy planned to end his life by driving into a motorway bridge. He felt trapped, overwhelmed and exhausted by the weight he had carried in silence. When he survived the crash and walked away unharmed, everything changed. Seeing his father break down in tears forced him to realise that there was still something to fight for. In this episode Juggy speaks openly about the darkest period of his life,...

In this heartfelt episode of The Dad Project Podcast, host Naroop Jhooti sits down with Nemash Patel, a single father who shares his powerful story of navigating divorce, overcoming emotional struggles, and discovering a renewed sense of purpose. Nemash opens up about the fear of losing his children after separation, coping mechanisms that helped him rebuild his life, and how becoming part of The...