Watch a walk in the park with their kids become therapy for the Daddy Stroller Social Club
When Kalvin Bridgewater and his wife endured a bout of postpartum depression following the birth of their daughter in Fort Worth, Texas, the new dad realized there was no community to help fathers cope with the condition.
Click on the video above to see how one man created a community of kindness for his fellow dads.
"My wife had a two-week checkup and she was talking to a midwife and our midwife was explaining to her how she was feeling," says Bridgewater. "We were both kind of feeling out a touch, feeling down. She was explaining to me how she was feeling. As a man at the time, I thought hold my feelings in and let her know that I'm doing fine. I'm here for her. So as they talking to her and explaining her symptoms and explaining to her that she's experiencing postpartum depression, I was on the outside looking in." Bridgewater recognized the same symptoms in himself but said he wasn't aware that a father could also experience post-partum depression.
Because it is most commonly thought of as a women's issue, support groups were available to Bridgegwater's wife but he felt adrift. With no family in the area, he called on his only resource -- his buddies, whom he invited with their kids for a stroll in the park.
"I was explaining to them what I was going through, explaining to them that I was experiencing postpartum depression, and these guys never heard of it either," says Bridgewater. "So we were sitting down there and we're just talking and we're kind of just venting, and they was like, I think I'm experiencing that as well. And just to have a space for us to kind of talk about it, we left that park feeling a little bit better about ourselves. We was like, 'Hey man, let's try to schedule this again.' The kids loved it. My wife loved it. She got time alone, got to read a book or just have some time to kind of think. So I was like, yeah, man, let's figure out another day we can go to the park."
Watch the video below to see dads bond over a walk in the park
From that day a new community was born. As news spread via social media, more and more dads showed up at the monthly meetups, now known as "strides," seeking support, advice, and brotherhood. The group even gave itself a name, 'The Daddy Stroller Social Club,' and has since expanded to hundreds of members with other chapters forming outside Texas.
"Guys are kind of shy about asking for help," says Bridgewater. "But now they're seeing other dads asking for help, and it's the same help that they kind of need. And they're opening up, they're asking for help and they're getting that help."
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dads' support group bonds over a walk in the park with their kids
