New Link added: Dads in Distress website

My first contact with Dads in Distress was not good.
I was in the middle of the crisis, emotionally distraught and wanting to pour out my feelings and issues to someone. The young voice on the other end of the line kept telling me: "Come to the meeting!"
I wanted to ask about services; he told me to "Come to the meeting. There is a new group forming in Frankston."
I was in no shape to attend a meeting at the time. I was just too wound up. I really have no idea how I came across, but his single line answers were not what I was looking for. I needed help about legal and emotional issues desperately. In the end, I simply hung up.

Since I'd was involved at the time organizing a support group at the local community center for people who had suffered a life changing injury, I think I assumed that this was just another one, and that I should keep looking.
Also, I assumed that there would be many such services on a more professional, or at least experienced or trained, level. -- Those were two gross mistakes on my part.

The best around

Then, as now, DiDs is the best such service available in Australia. It is privately funded, which means mostly out of the pockets of those who volunteer or have been helped. There is nothing like it anywhere else in Australia.
Despite its shortcomings because of funding and the reliance on sometimes over-eager volunteers, Tony Miller has put together the most effective service for men in the country. After becoming more familiar with the realities of the Australian mental health and social services system, I cannot begin to say how much I admire his effort and success.


Dads in Distress

Dads in Distress is a nationwide organization dedicated to dealing with the issues of Men's rights, Family Rights and the Family Courts. The site is easy to navigate and informative ( although you do have to scroll down many pages to find pertinent information.)
Dads in Distress has come to be an important voice in many national issues including the reform of the FCoA, the appalling suicide rate of men in Australia, and the treatment and support of men suffering the prejudices of the social and legal system.

While $257 million has been given to women's groups, shelters, and specialized services across Australia for years, the national effort of Dads in Distress has only received a $40,000 federal contribution for the first time this year. That hardly covers the phone bills.
DiDs saves lives daily, and could probably be shown to save the government $100 million a year annually in disability and medical expense; not to mention helping men deal with the difficulties of family and relationship breakups.
Comparably, a women's group that offered Thursday coffees received $250,000 this year in Sydney.

Dids is not about who was right or who was wrong. The only right we are interested in is the right for kids to have a relationship with their dad and allow dad the right to have the same. Dids is about giving dad back to their kids. Kids need both mum and dad in their lives. We help dads navigate the future by understanding the past.

Volunteers

The DiDs site recently added a Bookstore, Volunteer signup (where volunteers can seek training to make them more effective), and a Forum to discuss major issues and events.
There are DiDs meetings in most of the major cities, and more forming constantly. DiDs provides a national free crisis hotline at 1300 853 437. Volunteers are always needed. DiDs volunteers often also volunteer for the Mensline Australia: 1300 789 978 and the Suicide Hotline.

What's it cost to save a life?

$8500.00.............That's what it cost's to us. That's what it costs to keep a did's group operating in your area for 12 months. That's what it costs to save a man's life.............$8500.00.
Dads in Distress are looking for sponsors to continue this valuable work. Perhaps you can help, or maybe you can pass this on to a local businessman, an organisation, community group or an agency near you who may be able to help.

We know and so do you there are many dads out there feeling hurt, devastated, powerless, resentful, depressed, angry, gutted, sad and often suicidal. We can help and so can you. $8500.00 is not a lot to save a man's life. ..

The finest tradition

In an example of the finest tradition of Australia's community support groups, Dads in Distress has grown to fill a gaping national need left untouched, even unmentioned, in federal policy.
DiDs submissions to the Family Court reform process seem to have been heeded almost line for line in some instances.
What remains an unanswered need is that DiDs volunteers and policies have not been included in every Family Relationship Center. As women need to talk to women about such matters, so men need to talk to men. This could be reason the FRCs may fail.