Dads Unlimited, the charity supporting Dads following family separation, has won a major national award for work supporting Dads across England and Wales who are facing co-parenting and communication challenges, poor mental health and suicidal ideation.
From a long list of 350 charities, Dads Unlimited was one of ten winners of the 2022 GSK IMPACT Awards which recognises the outstanding impact that the charity has made on the UK’s health and wellbeing.
In just five years, Dads Unlimited has gone from a Facebook Page and a local support group meeting to supporting over 1350 Dads across England and Wales with a range of issues from access to children, co-parenting, communications, divorce and separation, mental health, to male-victim domestic abuse.
Dads Unlimited have pioneered a holistic approach to supporting parents including early-intervention workshops, person-centred planning, one-to-one mentoring, mental health support, and a dedicated domestic violence advisor service for male victims of emotional, psychological, sexual, and physical abuse. It is this ‘whole-needs’ approach and the commitment to ensuring a positive difference to co-parenting that has made such a difference in improving the lives of around 2500 children.
Suicide prevention has become a key feature of Dads Unlimited work, with around 40% of clients having faced suicidal ideation, rising to 55% of clients if they have been a victim of domestic abuse. The team works closely with Public Health, Government Agencies, and the Judiciary to raise awareness of the risk factors of suicide and how the loss of child contact and debts exacerbated by the legal system all compound the risk of suicide by a factor of up to 2.3x when compared to family separation on its own.
The GSK IMPACT Award brings recognition for the incredible work already achieved by the charity whilst also providing a platform to support and grow the charity further through the additional training and networking opportunities provided by GSK and the King’s Fund.
Katie Pinnock, Director of UK Charitable Partnerships at GSK, said: ‘Dads Unlimited is a young charity which has grown quickly and demonstrated huge impact in that time, with an impressive reach and influential local partnerships. Working to address an often-forgotten problem – the effect of family breakdown on men’s mental health – their innovative package of emotional support combined with practical advice and affordable legal services has proved effective in engaging dads who may have been reluctant to access other help.
The 2022 GSK IMPACT Award recognises Dads Unlimited’s significant impact on improving the health and mental wellbeing of dads in Kent and across England and Wales who are going through family breakdown. Developing leaders in the charity sector is a key aim of the GSK IMPACT Awards programme and all winners are invited to build on their success and take part in a tailored leadership development programme run by The King’s Fund. Dads Unlimited will also be invited to join the GSK IMPACT Awards Network, a UK-wide network of more than 110 previous award winners who work together to develop leaders, find new ways of working and provide mutual support.
GSK IMPACT Awards
2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the GSK IMPACT Awards, GSK’s flagship UK community investment programme. The GSK IMPACT Awards, run in partnership with The King’s Fund, are designed to recognise the outstanding work of community-based health care charities. For more information visit www.gsk.com/
