‘I was being a hypocrite dad’
Courtney Brown on setting up mentoring charity Father 2 Father
Emma Bartholomew
Courtney Brown tells Emma Bartholomew how the abandonment he felt by his own dad led him to set up youth mentoring charity Father 2 Father in South Hackney
It was through his work as a behaviour mentor and parent liaison officer at Cardinal Pole School that Courtney Brown realised he was behaving “like a hypocrite”.
“A lot of young people were approaching me very emotionally upset and when I asked them why, the common denominator was dad. Either mum stopped them seeing dad, dad’s working too much, or he had a new family,” he explained.
“They were holding a lot of pain and I recognised that pain. It was my own pain with my own dad, and it triggered me in terms of my own sons. It was like: ‘Wow. What have I done to my sons?’”
Courtney, 48, realised that his own father’s emotional absence had played on his during his teenage years, and he had repeated that experience with the eldest two of his four sons.
Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia. It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth.
Five years ago he set up his mentoring charity Father 2 Father, which provides children with no actively involved father figure with role models and guidance.With Stephen Lawrence’s father Neville as its patron and ambassador, the service is delivered through Hackney Quest in Poole Road, South Hackney.
It is one of the three charities Hackney Speaker Clare Potter is fundraising for this year.
“A lot of young people, especially boys, go straight to anger without realising there’s sadness, annoyance, fear, frustration, or a sense of injustice,” said Courtney.
“It’s about addressing those emotions and how to deal with it in a positive way.”
TURNING THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS TO THEIR CHILDREN,AND THE HEARTS OF THE CHILDREN TO THEIR FATHERS
Our mission is to increase the proportion of children growing up with involved, responsible fathers and male role modelsWe achieve this by supporting and providing adolescent boys, fathers and their families with mentorship, information, advice and guidance that will enhance their personal, social and economic well-being. We engage fathers and listen to their needs then provide support, training and awareness.
