Healing through fatherhood

Healing Through Fatherhood Project

Dear community members,

We are looking for men to contribute their story for our project “Healing Through Fatherhood: Voices of Indigenous and Immigrant Men”. This research study is being conducted by the University of Calgary Faculty of Social Work in collaboration with Alberta Men’s Network. The study is being led by Liza Lorenzetti, Aamir Jamal and Sebastian Benavides in collaboration with members of Alberta Men’s Network: Abbas Mancey, Tito Gomez, Arya Boustani, Pam Beebe, Lemlem Haile and Doug Murphy.

If you are interested in this study, please contact Sebastian Benavides  (sbenavid@ucalgary.ca), Dr. Liza Lorenzettie (lakloren@ucalgary.ca) or Dr. Aamir Jamal (aamir.jamal@ucalgary.ca) for more information.

We are interested in learning from men about their journey through fatherhood with hopes of engaging other dads, community members, practitioners, policy-makers and researchers in conversations and actions that support nurturing fatherhood.  

Who can participate? We welcome the stories from any male-identified Indigenous or racialized immigrant person who is in a ‘fatherhood role’, which for us means providing care and role-modeling for a child or children. This can include biological fathers, step-fathers, guardians, grandfathers, uncles, big brothers etc. You need to be 18 years or older to participate.

After signing a consent form, you will be asked to share your story by submitting a 3 to 5-minute audio recording or up to two pages of a written story regarding your fatherhood experiences, responding to the following questions:

1. How do you think culture or the society defines the role of a father?  Does that match the way you define it or provide for your family?

2. Since becoming a father, have you reflected on how you were raised and how has that effected the way you are as a parent?

3. Are you doing things differently from your father?  If yes, when and why did you decide to do things differently as a father?

4. How would you define a “good father” and what are some qualities or attributes of a “good father”?

The stories that are shared will be posted on the website of AMN and used for research presentations and publications on social media, articles and reports. Each participant will receive a $25 Tim Horton’s gift card once you submit your story.

Our research team includes:  Liza Lorenzetti (research lead), Aamir Jamal (research co-lead) and Sebastian Benavides (research assistant) from the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary; Abbas Mancey from Alberta Men’s Network; Kamal Sehgal from Albert Network of Immigrant Women; Tito Gomez, Pam Beebe and Arya Boustani, who are community film-makers. Liza and Arya are members of the same family, as are Tito and Pam. The film created from this research project will be entered in film festivals.

We look forward to hearing from you.