Surviving the Absent Father, Part 1

“I didn’t make you my daddy, my mamma did”, is how Guy Wheeler begins to address the issues of growing up in a fatherless home. During this fast paced video, Wheeler makes it a point to recognize that even when a father is in the home, he can still be emotionally and physically absent.

Surviving the Absent Father addresses substance abuse and emphasizes that an important part of recovery is learning to recognize and confront the feelings of anger, resentment, and frustration towards the father who abandoned you during childhood. In talking about the “absent father”, Wheeler discusses how the family structure is disrupted, and how children seek love and attention from others, often seeking attention from street gangs. Girls often get involved in different relationships seeking a father figure.