CLEVELAND — Doulas are typically women who guide expecting mothers through pregnancy and childcare following birth, but the organization Dude'las wants to focus on the expecting fathers.
Neal Hodges decided to start the support system for men that focused on infant mortality and to give advice to first time fathers and men who struggled with co-parenting.
“All the work, all the support marketing was geared toward the mother, and not the father,” Hodges said. “I’m like, what about the father? It made me feel as if he was nonexistent. We’ve played the role that they have written for us. I’m saying no, write your own narrative.”
Hodges and his group of a dozen mentees meet on Tuesdays from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. at Agora Theater & Ballroom in Cleveland.
