Dadfit Community

Dadfit is a Melbourne-based charity supporting healthy, gender-equal families by assisting disadvantaged men to be game-changing fathers who are healthy, loving and nurturing.

The challenge:
Unequal care-giving between parents is a major barrier to gender equality, with long-term impacts on women’s careers and family relationships. To create a gender equal future, we urgently needs dads to step up as care-givers.

However, too many men struggle with the fatherhood transition:
-1 in 2 increase negative health behaviours
-1 in 4 are isolated
-1 in 10 develop post-natal depression
-Only 1/3 of child-care is done by fathers

When dads struggle, entire families suffer, with increased risk to family health and of family violence. Existing supports (e.g. Maternal Child Health) fail to reach most dads, due to a lack of father-specific services. These challenges are magnified in disadvantaged communities.

The Dadift solution:
Dadfit’s innovative program helps dads team up locally to exercise together, participate in facilitated discussions about mental health, parenting and healthy relationships (‘Dad Chats’), and put new ideas into practice (‘Dad Challenges’). This creates a lasting community that continues meeting beyond the five-week program.

Dadfit has incredible impact:
-93% of participants report positive mental health impacts
-90% of participants report positive physical health impacts
-90% say it’s helped them be a better dad

After supporting 150 families in our first year, we’re seeking to expand our programs in 2024/25, focusing on culturally diverse families with children aged 0-5.

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