The Dad Project
The Dad Project
Podcast Description
The Dad Project is dedicated to celebrating and uplifting single fathers of colour, sharing their powerful stories of perseverance, love, and hope. By highlighting their unique journeys and the challenges they overcome, the project seeks to dismantle stereotypes and emphasise the importance of men’s mental health and emotional well-being.
Through authentic storytelling, The Dad Project inspires understanding and compassion, fostering a community that values the strength and dedication of these fathers and encourages them to share their truths.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast explores themes of resilience, mental health, and parenting challenges, sharing powerful stories like Kiran Dhilan's battle for 50/50 custody of his autistic son and Aaron Dale's insights into co-parenting and personal growth.
Real stories. Brave voices.
The Dad Project is dedicated to celebrating and uplifting men, sharing their powerful stories of perseverance, love, and hope.
By highlighting their unique journeys and the challenges they overcome, the project seeks to dismantle stereotypes and emphasise the importance of men’s mental health and emotional well-being.
Through authentic storytelling, The Dad Project inspires understanding and compassion, fostering a community that values the strength and dedication of these fathers and encourages them to share their truths.
Clarke Carlisle sits down with Naroop to talk about what it really took to find out who he is, not the footballer, not the public figure, but the man underneath all of it.
They go into his childhood, his relationship with his father, five suicide attempts, alcohol and gambling addiction, the shame of knowing his children felt like an inconvenience, and the slow, difficult work of becoming the husband and father he wanted to be.
This is not a recovery story packaged for inspiration. It’s an honest account of what it actually takes to change.
Chapters
- 00:00:00 Introduction: Breaking the Silence on Men’s Mental Health
- 00:02:41 The Most Honest Place to Start: Little Clocky and Who I Am Today
- 00:04:07 The Foundation of Everything: Knowing Who You Are
- 00:10:03 Brutal Honesty With Yourself: The First Step to Finding Who You Are
- 00:14:00 Getting Your Knees Dirty: The Reality of Self-Discovery
- 00:15:59 The Observer of Your Thoughts: Understanding Your Patterns
- 00:32:54 Growing Up on a Preston Council Estate: The Making of a People Pleaser
- 00:38:29 Why Football Meant Everything: The 91st Minute That Changed His Life
- 00:44:20 The Knee Injury at 20: When Everything Was Taken Away
- 00:45:46 The First Suicide Attempt at 21: 56 Co-Proxamol and a Can of Carling
- 00:47:25 The Relentless Cycle: Success on the Outside, Crashing Every Few Months
- 00:49:21 The Validation Trap: When Your Worth Depends on What Others Think
- 01:00:10 Fatherhood at 18: The Daughter He Abandoned
- 01:05:32 Wetting the Bed Until 17: The Pattern That Created a Life
- 01:08:28 Meeting His Human: The Psychiatric Report as a Second Date Gift
- 01:11:18 The Therapeutic Journey: From Crisis to Stable to Well to Maintenance
- 00:18:46 The Watershed Moment: Holding Hands in a Psychiatric Hospital Bed
- 01:15:36 What Children Actually Need: Presence, Not Presents
- 01:23:34 The Daily Work: Acceptance, Gratitude, and Nutella Ice Cream
- 01:20:02 Forgiveness and Responsibility: Doing Your Best With What You Had
Clarke Carlisle is a former Premier League footballer, ex-chairman of the PFA, and one of the most important voices in men’s mental health in the UK.
The Dad Project is a podcast and community for men. You don’t need to be a dad to be here.
FIND CLARK CARLISLE
THE DAD PROJECT
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Q: Why do men struggle to talk about mental health?
Because most men have spent decades learning that silence equals strength. Clarke explains how that belief becomes the gap between who you are and who you want to be — and why that gap is what destroys men.
Q: How does addiction affect fatherhood?
Clarke describes how during active gambling addiction, his children became an inconvenience. He explains the shame of recognising that, and the work it took to change it.
Q: What is the difference between crisis, stable, and well in mental health recovery?
Clarke uses a knee injury analogy: crisis care, rehabilitation to stability and wellness, then daily maintenance. Recovery is not one thing — it evolves as you do.
Q: How do you rebuild a relationship with your children after addiction?
Clarke talks about reintroducing himself to his eldest daughter not as a father giving instructions, but as someone earning her trust from the outside in. Fatherhood is about presence, not provision.
Disclaimer
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