Reviewer: Leanne Pethick, depressioNet

To me it was not clear as to who the book was targeted at - ie what segment it was written for. My personal thoughts are that it was not written for Fathers themselves, but rather for those working in this area.

Having said that, parts of it would be of significant value to Fathers. From feedback we receive at depressioNet, amongst the issues that are important to fathers are that:
a) there is no support for them or if there is, they don't know where to turn to find it
b) they have no idea how to deal with the challenges they are facing and feel powerless.
c) knowing they are not alone and having the opportunity to talk with others in similar situations does help.

The book held value in the above issues in that:
a) it indicated that there is support available for fathers dealing with these issues (although not really focussed on how they access this help)
b) the case studies were excellent, depicting a variety of situations with some very enlightening, practical suggestions for dealing with the challenges
c) The honesty of the emotions dealt with in such challenging times would be of immense value to other fathers who are experiencing a similar situation.

For those working in the field or providing support to Fathers, it does provide discussion on important issues and gives some good pointers in terms of further research etc.

I think it is highly likely that it is aimed more at the professional and from this perspective I don't consider myself in a position to comment further. I am not sure it is a book we would recommend to fathers at depressioNet as I feel there are possibly better books available for the fathers themselves that are written specifically for fathers.