The Fathering Project Podcast

Johnny Shannon, motivational speaker of the year 2020  joins us on The Fathering First podcast. 

The last few years have been incredibly tough for everyone and it's no surprise that many individual's mental health has suffered because of it.  In this podcast we sit down with Dr Mark Deady from the Black Dog Institute to discuss mental health post-COVID, what some of the research says and strategies we can use to help ourselves, children and loved ones move forward.  

Joined by special guest, The Hon. Dr Tony Buti, the West Australian minister for finance, lands, sport and recreation, citizenship and multicultural interests.  In this episode, Minister Buti opens up about his fathering journey of raising three children, and how it's shaped him into the father he's become today.  He discusses his family's journey to-date, being an advocate for his...

In this week's episode we speak with speech pathologist, Annie Hamilton. Annie works with families and children aged 0-3 years and specialises in working with children to develop early communication skills.  We discuss the importance of early intervention to support children who may be experiencing challenges with their language development and social communication.

In this week's episode we speak with James Brown, who is a registered Clinical Psychologist and has been working with families for over 15 years. He has a particular interest in assisting men relating to their psychological health and well-being.  Our discussion today will be about fathers of children with additional needs, and managing and looking after their own mental health and wellbeing,...

We speak with human performance researcher, speaker and consultant, Dr Adam Fraser.  Adam studies how organisations can adopt a high-performance culture to thrive in this challenging and evolving business landscape.  Adam helps us unpack the notion of finding a work life balance, providing strategies and advice, so fathers can be the best version of themselves in and out of the home. 

In this episode we speak with clinical psychologist Jeroen Decates. He has over 45 years experience working with both children and adults on the autism spectrum.  He gives us an expert insight into this complex topic and provides parents with some advice and strategies around raising children with a disability, and specifically on the autism spectrum. 

Relationship and family mediator, Lisanne Iriks, provides her expert insight into relationship mediation and conflict resolution. During this podcast she provides some tips, strategies and advice for fathers around communication, what to do and what not to do in high conflict situations, and how to best move forward without getting the kids negatively caught up. 

The Fathering Project are thrilled to be joined by TV personality, social media sensation and picture book author, Jimmy Rees.  He was the star on the ABC children's show Giggle and Hoot, and became well known for his hilariously relatable viral videos on social media.  We chat to Jimmy about the challenges of 2020, which also brought about silver linings. His new book Bedtime Sorted! and bei...

Paul Dillon from Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia joins us on this episode to talk all things drugs, alcohol and vaping.  Paul has been working in the area of drug education for the past 25 years and has been contracted by many organisations to give regular updates on current drug trends. He has also worked with many school communities to ensure that they have access to good qualit...

We are thrilled to be joined once again by Maggie Dent, one of Australia’s favourite parenting authors and educators. Maggie chats with us about her new book, Parental as Anything: A common sense guide to raising happy, healthy kids - from toddlers to tweens.  This podcast covers: Maggie's purpose for writing the book | 2:05 - 3:25 Raising 'rooster' and 'lamb' children | 3...

John Rutter from The Fathering Project chats with Dads' Group Leader, Tom Hollings from Boronia Park Public School.  The discussion covers:  How does a Dads group work What activities work best  How do you engage the dads on dads only nights Tips for running dads only events, and dads and kids activities

A thoroughly engaging chat with Dr Vanessa Lapointe, which challenges us to think about the way we discipline our children and the importance of creating a safe connection with them.  Through out the podcast, Vanessa poses perspectives that we as adults may not have considered. She challenges us to re-consider how we react to our children when they misbehave and prompts us to remember not to proje...

Join us as we sit down with author, psychologist and neurodevelopment educator, Karen Young. Who provides fathers and parents with advice, tips and strategies to help strengthen connection and relationship.  These are some of the years that may feel the hardest, Karen reminds us it's normal for them to pull away and seek their own independence. Staying connected and creating a secure and safe...

Playing with children in the early years is essential to their growth and development, but did you know rough and tumble play has significant benefits? During this podcast Jennifer explains why fathers and father figures should start to engage in this type of play and provides some useful tips and strategies to get started. 

We speak with Helen Stevens, Registered Nurse, Midwife, and Maternal and Child Health Nurse, Infant Mental Health Clinician and author, who has incorporated recent research and findings into her presentations, clinical work, education and writing. Helen helps us to understand the important role fathers and parents play in the emotional wellbeing development from birth-3 years. 

In this week's episode we welcome back Steve Biddulph, author, psychologist and one of the world's best known parenting experts.  Steve provides his 30 years of expertise to help explain what girls need from their fathers, the importance of your relationship, how to raise girls in the 21st century and plenty more. 

This week we speak with author, speaker and tween and teen parenting expert Michelle Mitchell. Raising tween and teen girls can be a handful, Michelle helps us to unpack why girls do what they do and how we can best support them during this stage of their life.

The Fathering Project sits down with Dr Justin Coulson, author and international speaker on wellbeing and improving relationships for parents. We discuss the difference between disciplining and punishing children. We're guided by Justin's experience and insights as we delve deeper into how we can use discipline to support, set boundaries and empower our children.

The Fathering Project chats with Brad Marshall, child psychologist, discussing managing screen, internet and gaming time with children and teens.

Dr Steve Kassem helps fathers and parents to understand what's going on in the brain of a teenage boy. Mood swings, reckless and volitile behaviour; Steve explains!