Dad HERO Project
(Helping Everyone Realize Opportunities)
With the help of Movember and great partners, we are helping incarcerated dads and their families in federal and provincial prisons and communities all across Canada!
Why Dad HERO?
“Our project is HERO – ‘Helping Everyone Realize Opportunities’ because each individual in our prisons has many sides. Being a dad doesn’t stop because you are incarcerated. It’s not just a title, it’s a job, and each dad has many positives that they can offer their children, their families. We want them to recognize that, to increase their confidence, and stay connected to build resiliency toward their well-being and successful family reunification” says Louise Leonardi, CFCN’s Executive Director.
What is the Dad HERO project?
The project is designed to educate and teach dads about parenting, how children grow, and why their children need them. CFCN has spent a great deal of time researching and building a lot of great exercises and activities to help dads learn in a fun way about the father-child bond, how to communicate with their child, and how to work with a co-parent.
It starts with an 8-week parenting course that is offered in the institutions over and over again. From there the men will move into a Dad Group in the prison that will meet regularly to keep them connected about something positive – their children!
The project also offers an 8-week parenting course and Dad Group on the outside – to to help men in our communities. This group is for dads who have been in jail, federally or provincially in the past, to focus on community parenting issues.
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We also offer one-on-one sessions over the phone in Canadian prisons to increase our programming flexibility for dads.
We welcome all dads affected by incarceration. We will be working with them to keep them connected to their kids, to help them feel better about themselves, to cope with the effects of incarceration, and to strengthen the family unit.
Even if they’re doing fine, we want to keep it that way!​
Dad HERO Sites Across Canada
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NFLD - Her Majesty's Penitentiary
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NB - Atlantic Institution, Springhill Institution
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QB - La Macaza Institution, Donnacona Institution, Port Cartier Institution, Drummond Institution
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ON - Millhaven Institution, Beaver Creek Institution, Collins Bay Institution, Joyceville Institution, Warkworth Institution, Sarnia Jail, Ontario Correctional Institute, Quinte Detention Centre
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MB - Stony Mountain Institution
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SK - Saskatchewan Penitentiary
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AB - Grande Cache Institution, Bowden Institution
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BC - Kent Institution, Matsqui Institution
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Contact us if you are interested in getting someone involved in the project!
We also have Dad HERO community groups running in both Toronto and Kingston, Ontario and soon St. John's, Newfoundland and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. More to come!
How Dad HERO started
For many years now, men in prison have asked CFCN for help in terms of parenting. In 2015 we applied to Movember for funding to go in and talk to men about exactly what that meant and Movember said yes. So we put together what we learned from the men and how we would like to help and on September 1st, 2017 Movember announced Canadian Family and Corrections Network’s (CFCN) Dad HERO Project as one of 13 projects in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada to be part of the Social Innovators Challenge.
This funding is to invest in men’s physical and mental health by strengthening their connections to improve their well-being and help them live long and healthy lives. “We know that in their 30s, men tend to start letting go of key relationships,” says Craig Martin, Global Director, Mental Health & Suicide Prevention, Movember. “This is having a far-reaching and very negative impact because social relationships are a key protective factor for men against anxiety, depression and potentially suicide. We need to tackle this issue, and fresh ideas are needed because the status quo isn’t working for men.” The Dad HERO Project is one of those fresh ideas.
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​​Canadian Families and Corrections Network was pleased to receive additional funding in 2020 from Movember in order to help men and their families.