Recommendations for a dads support group?
Hi All,
I am interested in finding a support group to meet other dads, ideally in Berkeley/Oakland. Does anyone have any recommendations for groups to focus on emotional support as well as community building?
Thanks!
Nov 28, 2023
Parent Replies
Check out Andrew Gordon-Kirsch's Support Group For Dads: https://www.andrewgk.com/dads Highly recommend Andrew as a facilitator, community builder, and overall amazing human!
While I don't have any recommendations for you, I would also be interested in a similar group. Last year I had seen an article in the NY Times about a men's support group near Houston called F3, which focuses on the "3 F's": fitness, fellowship and faith. While the faith element doesn't necessary appeal to me, the idea of a support group does that focuses on emotional support, fitness, as well as the community building that you mention is something that would be interesting to me too. However, after reading that article I have done some searching for similar local groups and came up empty, unfortunately. I'll be looking for the responses to your question in the hopes that someone knows of this type of group!
Second the rec for Andrew’s group, highly recommend!
Testimonial on Andrew's group mentioned here! I was tremendously impressed with Andrew as a facilitator, and also with the quality and intimacy of the conversations this space created. Highly recommend.
+1 for andrewgk. Precisely for both the things you are looking for. I increased the number of other involved dads by 8x through this group and everyone remains in contact.
I second the recommendation for Andrew Gordon-Kirsch's dad groups! I'm in one of them right now; we're in our last couple weeks of the "program" and it's been very rewarding, and put me in touch with some other very cool dads. I believe we're the second cohort of dads he's worked with, and he's starting a couple more groups in the winter. Basically we've been meeting weekly for 6-8 weeks or so, with a picnic at the beginning and the end to meet each other's kids and partners. Andrew's a great facilitator and a really thoughtful guy, I highly recommend the group.
Hi! I organize a community group for moms and have heard many times that folks would love something like this for dads. If a local dad is thinking about organizing such a group, I would be glad to talk through the process of getting it started, keeping it going, and working through the hiccups that might come along. This group has been incredibly rewarding for me. My heart swells every time I hear that someone found support, made a connection, or offered help through the group. With the help of BPN, it's been fairly easy to build the group and keep it going for more than two years.
Our group is B.E.A.R. Moms (Berkeley, El Cerrito, Albany, Richmond), you can look us up on BPN.
Depending on where you live, and how you identify, you might find something that fits your needs on this list of gropd for fathers/father figures. My understanding is that it is kept updated, but no promises. I do know the Fathers Circle at the Oakland Library is still active.
https://first5alameda.org/files/Fathers_Corps/2022-2023/Fatherhood%20Gr…