Why I Built This: The Mission Behind Fathership Program Inc.

I didn’t start Fathership Program Inc. to impress anyone. I started it because I had to. Because the world doesn’t give men enough real spaces to be seen, to be challenged, or to heal without shame. And I couldn’t leave this life knowing I had the experience and fire to build something better and chose silence instead.

Fathership Program’s mission is to spread awareness about men’s mental health, provide services, and offer resources that support men in focusing on mind, body, and spirit—creating a world where every man is empowered to live a balanced, healthy, and fulfilling life.

Fathership Program isn’t just for dads. It’s for all men—especially the ones who feel like they’re too far gone to fix. It’s for the man who grew up without a father and promised himself he’d be better, only to find himself repeating some of the same pain. It’s for the one who can’t afford therapy, who’s been labeled ‘angry,’ ‘difficult,’ or ‘lost,’ and for the ones who quietly carry everything while telling the world, “I’m fine.”

It’s not just about parenting. It’s about personal leadership. Emotional maturity. Responsibility. Men learning how to stop reacting and start responding. Because here’s the truth—violence is a boy’s answer to a man’s problem. And we’re not boys anymore. We’re men. And real strength isn’t in how loud we shout or how hard we hit—it’s in how deeply we listen, how long we pause, and how much ownership we take for what we do next.

Right now, we’re working hard to offer programs that will be certified by the National Anger Management Association (NAMA) because we want our classes to not just change lives—but hold weight in courtrooms, probation offices, and parenting plans. We’re building offerings in:

• Parenting

• Anger Management

• Domestic Violence Prevention

• Emotional Maturity

But we’re not stopping at curriculum. We’re creating open spaces where men can sit together in circle—without judgment, without pressure to perform—just honest conversations. Group meetups where a man can finally take the armor off. This is about coming back to the pack. About answering the call. About sitting at the table and being heard by other men who get it—who’ve walked through hell too and decided not to die there.

The classes and groups we’re offering aren’t just recovery tools—they’re reclamation tools. This is how we take our lives back. Not by being perfect, but by showing up real.

This program is my legacy. I know I may never sit in the shade of the tree I’m planting. And I’m okay with that.

Because if it means a man down the road doesn’t take his life...If it means a father breaks the generational curse...If it means a boy grows up safe, loved, and whole—then it was worth everything.

I don’t just want Fathership to run. I want it to live. I want it to be the place men turn to when everything else feels like a dead end. A place where you walk in feeling worn down, maybe lost—but not broken. Because you’re not broken. You’ve just been surviving for too long without the right tools. This is where you pick them up. Where shame has no home, but accountability does. Where truth is spoken, lies are dismantled, and healing is earned.

This isn’t a project. It’s a purpose. And I’m here for it until my last breath.

—Todd Thomas

Founder, Fathership Program Inc.