This course is aimed at Practitioners working with or supporting fathers during the perinatal period and consists of 4-hour sessions on 2 consecutive days.

This course has been Certified by Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

The Man Up or Man Down course sets out to raise awareness of paternal mental health and is facilitated by Lopa Vibhakar, Jane Hanley, Mark Williams & Scott Mair

Upon completion of the course, Participants will have a clear understanding of father’s mental health disorders such as: depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.

The Participants will be confident to recognise the signs and symptoms of father’s mental health issues and disorders, with discussion on how to signpost effectively. Participants will also understand the initial clinical diagnosis, with a chance to try the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale first-hand, providing an insight into how postnatal depression would be diagnosed in a clinical setting.

The course covers pharmaceutical management when treating disorders, as well as exploring therapies. The course concludes by touching on the family as a whole; mother, father and infant mental health, providing a deeper appreciation for how paternal mental health can affect the whole family unit. 

This course is usually a skills-based course, with interactions and role play, but unfortunately present circumstances have meant that it is presented online.   However, this does not detract from the importance of the interaction of the delegates and we aim to make the courses as inclusive as possible by limiting the numbers to ensure everyone has the opportunity to share their experiences and concerns, to enable safe and well-informed interactions.