CHI - St. Joseph's Health - MN

"I meet with every father who comes into the program," says Joe Johnson, FATHER Project Coordinator. "We start by sharing our life stories to establish and honor each father's history. Then, I lay out a multi-step fatherhood plan for each of them, and they take the first step by attending the Parent Group." Once fathers graduate from this three-month course, those who want to continue to learn and grow in fatherhood can enter into the second step of the program, the Leadership Group, which is the Nurturing Fathers Program. "This group spends 12 weeks interacting closely, coping with their own childhood wounds that have carried over into their adult lives and learning what it means to be a family," Johnson says. "We grow together, cry together, and love one another. We are family, and we model what healthy families look like." "When we first started this, we knew of many programs that had tried to engage local dads, but they failed," Mayer says. "Many people thought our project would fail, too, believing fathers would never come to our program. As soon as we started, we had waiting lists. In this grassroots effort, our fathers have been our best recruitment tool." MOVING FORWARD Part of the FATHER Project's success is due to innovating the program to include new classes. "In February, we started a new course—Healthy Relationships 101," says Kristen Partlow, FATHER Project Violence Prevention Coordinator. "Its goal is to help parents—whether or not they're currently in a committed relationship—to communicate more effectively and build relationships to better raise their children as parenting partners." Though the program is primarily for low-income fathers who don't have custody of their children, it is beneficial to all fathers and families. "In more than 20 years of serving at-risk populations, the FATHER Project is the most powerful program I've ever been involved with," Partlow says. "The project fosters a brotherhood that is so impactful and life-changing for the participants. The only required criteria to participate is that you be a parent—or soon to be one. There's always more to learn about parenting, and the sooner you start, the better parent you can be." Be part of the success! To support the FATHER Project or to sign up, call 218.255.2063. FATHER Project Coordinator, Joe Johnson, receives high-fives from group partcipants. The program is completely voluntary, so these fathers are here because they want to be the best parents they possibly can. Some of them may have had a rough start on their fatherhood journey, but we're here to heal past wounds and focus our energy on the present so these dads—and their families— have futures that are full of hope, love, peace, and joy. JOE JOHNSON, CHI ST. JOSEPH'S HEALTH COMMUNITY HEALTH FATHER PROJECT COORDINATOR www.CHISJH.org | CHI St. Joseph's Health 7

• Cover