FACED with an increasing number of men in crisis, the not-for-profit group Fathers Incorporated is intent on setting up a resource centre for men.

The problem, however, is that the group is without the necessary funds to make it happen, and have thrown themselves at the mercy of corporate Jamaica in order to realise the facility, which they expect will cost in the region of a million dollars to set up.

“We are meeting large numbers of men with severe trauma and who cannot handle it. We get cases from the courts to counsel problematic fathers and men who say they are going to kill themselves,” said president of the 17-year-old group, Dr Herbert Gayle. “My interest now is to provide the nation with resources for father nurturing.”

As it is now, the president said that they have to take money, chiefly from their own pockets, to go to the aid of men in need.

“These are the kinds of crises we have to deal with out of our pockets, and are having to drive in our cars to tell men to come down from the bridge,” said Gayle, who has personally dealt with six cases of men desirous of committing suicide in the last 11 years.

The centre, which is expected to cost an estimated $230,000 monthly to operate, is to be staffed by a programme co-ordinator and two part-time counsellors. Service offerings, Gayle said, will include counselling not only counselling for men but also for their spouses. In addition, there is to be a variety of information on male reproductive health and fathering – including videos and case studies. The centre, Gayle said, will also provide mentoring for boys, while helping to organise events such as Boys’ Days.

“At no time can anybody challenge monotrophy – the chemical connection between mother and child – but that does not mean that father parenting and father initiatives should suffer, because the absence of fathers is going to mean several problems for us – the primary one being violence,” Gayle told the Observer. “The 18 per cent intake of men at UWI is an absence-of-father problem. The increased male suicides and murder of families is an absence-of-father problem. The bleaching (that young men do) is an absence-of-father problem.”

Fathers Inc was set up in 1991 with a view to correcting stereotypes of men as irresponsible parents and generally more harmful than beneficial to their families.

In the years since then, the group, which started out as an affiliate of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, has been involved in a raft of activities, notably the adoption of the Glenhope Place of Safety for Girls; and the upgrading of the image of Fathers’ Day, which is now only days away.

They have also been involved in drama-in-education initiatives, which have generated discussions among a variety of groups concerning the roles and responsibilities of fathers.