Section 1: Where You Have Been (Weeks 1-3)
Damage Assessment--How big is the mess?

These first three sessions are designed to help men face the issues that could interfere with their ability to build stronger relationships with their children. They are typically court ordered so they have issues with the system; they are often coming out of a failed relationship with their child’s mother so they have issues with her; and they are typically not well-fathered themselves so they have issues with the template of fathering that was given to them. We found over the three years of developing this class that you have to address these issues first in order for the men to be able to move forward. Once the men have experienced the process of healing and reflecting on one or all of these bigger issues, they are much better prepared to focus on raising their children effectively.

Section 2: Who You Are (Weeks 4-6)
Strength Assessment--What are your assets?

After FOCUS participants have worked through some of the more pressing and deeper issues in their life and their relationships, they move on to assessing themselves as men and as fathers. Because many of these men have had few positive male role models in their life, it is important for them to identify what true manhood looks like from a child’s perspective. Then they examine the role of a true father in the life of a child. As male parents, fathers have a unique and beneficial role to play distinct from a mother’s role. It has been said that children without fathers have a hole in their soul. It is a father’s role to make sure that the hole is filled.

Section 3: Where You Are Going (7-10)
Planning & Implementation – What path will you set?

In the last 4 sessions each man develops a plan for his own life as a man, a father, and a member of the community. By taking what he has resolved and learned about his children, he can then begin to look ahead to what he needs to do to be the father that he desires to be and his children need him to be. Weeks 7 and 8 are built as planning lessons and Week 9 is a pragmatic look at how to communicate with your children. The final session is an opportunity for reflection and celebration. Each man gets to make a public statement about where his has been and where he is going. It is a powerful session in which you will hear men remark on their growth and transformation over the ten weeks.