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THE SJ CHILDS SHOW-Advocating for Autistics, One Story at a Time
🎙️ Welcome to The SJ Childs Show Podcast! 🎉
Join Sara Bradford—better known as SJ Childs—as she bridges understanding and advocacy for the neurodivergent community. This podcast shines a light on autism awareness, empowering stories, expert insights, and practical resources for parents, educators, and individuals alike.
Brought to you by The SJ Childs Global Network, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting autistic individuals and their families worldwide, this show is your weekly dose of inspiration and actionable ideas. Visit sjchilds.org to learn more about our mission, find resources, and connect with our growing community.
Catch us on platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Goodpods—or tune in Fridays at 8:30 AM EDT on the Helium Radio Network’s Life Improvement Radio (Channel 1). Together, let’s foster a brighter, more inclusive world! 🌟
Go here to download training materials!
https://sjchilds.myshopify.com/
THE SJ CHILDS SHOW-Advocating for Autistics, One Story at a Time
Episode 303-Faith and Inclusion in Action-A Father's Journey to Build Community with John Fela
What does it mean to truly support special needs families, and how can we as a community come together to offer that support? In our latest episode, we bring you a heartfelt conversation with John Fela, a dedicated advocate who has turned his personal journey as a parent of a nonverbal autistic son into a powerful mission working with Joni and Friends, a global Christian disability ministry. John's inspiring story of creating a support group for special needs dads not only highlights the importance of community but also reveals the transformative power of shared experiences. Join us as we promise to open your eyes to the resilience and hope that emerge when families navigate the complexities of autism together.
Navigating the world of special needs parenting comes with its unique set of challenges and victories, especially for single parents. Drawing from real-life experiences, we share stories of overcoming fears and breaking through isolation by building connections with other parents and community organizations. Schools, churches, and local groups all play pivotal roles in this journey, offering vital support from early childhood into adolescence and beyond. We explore how preparing for guardianship and continuously adapting to the needs of the autistic community requires a deep understanding and unwavering commitment to inclusion.
Churches have a unique opportunity to foster genuine acceptance for families and individuals with disabilities, moving beyond surface-level inclusion. John Fela shares invaluable insights into how religious communities can create environments that truly celebrate all abilities, encouraging meaningful participation. We touch on the future concerns many parents face, urging church leadership to develop sustainable programs that address these anxieties. As we wrap up, we express gratitude for the stories of courage and resilience shared, reminding us all of the enduring impact these narratives hold. Tune in for an episode filled with inspiration, practical advice, and a promise of community support that shines brightly.
www.johnfela.com
The SJ Childs Show is Backford's 13th season. Join Sarah Brafford and the SJ Childs Show team as they explore the world of autism and share stories of hope and inspiration. This season we're excited to bring you more autism summits featuring experts and advocates from around the world.
Speaker 2:Go to sjchildsorg.
Speaker 3:Hi and thanks for joining the SJ Child Show. I'm really excited today to get into this conversation with John. Is it just pronounced Fela?
Speaker 4:Actually Fela.
Speaker 3:Fela, okay, what?
Speaker 4:heritage. Is that from? Believe it or not? It's actually Polish. Both my mom and dad were both Polish on either side, and I know that most people thought that it might've been shortened from something at some point, but we've actually. You know, we were able to kind of trace the lineage a little bit, and there are other folks actually with the exact same name too, so, go figure.
Speaker 4:I will say though and this is also just something that I normally say for the end but since you brought up the last name, much of my content, for anybody who looks me up, is actually going to be under a different last name, which is Fella Geller, and the reason for that is because that was actually my married name in my previous marriage. So I've since been divorced and remarried, but my ex-wife at the time and I we took our two last names, put them together, had it legally changed, so I used to be Fella Geller, but now I'm going back to just Fela, dropping that. It hasn't all gone through the courts and everything yet, and a lot of my old content is still under the previous name. So I tell people you can find me either one way or another, you'll see my stuff.
Speaker 3:Right, so that's not confusing. Really happy to go from my maiden name to my married name because my maiden name is Gullahur and it was just really tricky for people. So Bradford and then Childs is just my author name, sj Childs. It was a play on words for the child genre because I was writing children's books. So, yeah, kind of fun. Well, let's get into why you're here today, share a little bit about yourself, introduce yourself, and then we'll get into this conversation.
Speaker 4:Sure, absolutely. Well, I like to jokingly refer to myself as the Swiss Army Knife of Disability Advocacy or Disability Ministry, so I'm all special needs all the time. So first of all, I identify as a parent of disability. I have a 17-year-old son, chris, who's autistic and nonverbal. He's currently living at a residential facility out in Wichita, kansas. That's not a forever thing, that's just so he can basically finish high school and then he'll come home. But that's just where he's at now. And I will tell you that when I say all disability all the time, so that looks a variety of different ways.
Speaker 4:My day job is actually working for an organization called Johnny and Friends, which is a global Christian disability ministry that supports people and families all over the world. We're in over 30 countries, but I work out of our Chicago area office and we handle several states in the Midwest, and so we do a variety of outreach and things with families. My job actually specifically is to work with churches to train them on disability awareness, provide resources, training for staff and just help people to, you know, really support and serve the disability population in their congregation. But then outside of that, I'm an advocate in my own right and that actually started for me several years ago, even before I was doing this job. But you know, I kind of felt a couple things. One thing I felt was I realized as a parent and also more specifically as a dad, that I was not resourced. I didn't, you know, have a lot of support. There was just a lot missing in terms of answers to questions and things like that. So, you know, in the way that most parents of disability go out looking for answers, I also felt the need to give back and in that way, not only was I able to support and help and bless other people, but I was also able to help get resourced myself through those relationships and experiences.
Speaker 4:So I started out in small ways, like starting a support group for special needs dads in my community, which I still run to this day, but then getting involved with other national organizations and ministries that serve disabilities. So I've been a writer and a speaker for many organizations for several years and do a variety of presentations you know podcasts, you know just like this, obviously and do a variety of presentations you know podcasts, you know just like this, obviously. And then I'm involved with you know support for parents and families, again specifically for dads. I'm actually involved with a couple different organizations that support special needs dads and that looks.
Speaker 4:You know a variety of different ways, but you know, really I just come back to that support piece and you know I always like to see myself as someone who, if someone comes to me with a question or an issue or, you know, whatever they want to talk about, you know I'm always willing to have that conversation. I may not have an answer for you, but you know I certainly can probably point you in the right direction and I think that's what all of us as parents on this journey need to. You know, just kind of keep us going and keep us going down the road.
Speaker 3:Yeah, isn't that the truth? We sound like we're on very similar journeys, very similar, and I really just love all that you're doing. And I think, when it comes, especially as a parent and as a self-advocate I got my own diagnosis three years ago and really helped me to perceive everything a little differently and the support piece within our family was just like a celebration it was. It was beautiful, it was tangible, we could really kind of understand each other in a different way than ever before, but it really as a parent, I understand where that passion comes from, that passion and that in seeking for resources, oftentimes we find that sounds like in your case as well that we really have kind of some knowledge from our experiences that we can also share. And it's so important and I think that you know, in this podcast, for example, we're 300 and something episodes into it now and that is so much learning and so much teaching and so much sharing of just invaluable information. That is just, you know, helping people on so many different parts of their journey.
Speaker 3:We're all in a different part of our journey and I think it's just wonderful what you're doing and you know it's great when we when I find the the dad great when we, when I find the, the dad component, and I have some great I'm sure that you probably already connected to them. You know, dads, that I'd love to connect you with that do great organizations and things like that. So tell us a little bit about um, where it like that start starting point for you, if you don't mind going back to that and and what that looked like and how maybe you pivoted from an old life that you were into what you were going to be doing yeah, I, I love telling that story and, and for me it actually goes back about 15 years.
Speaker 4:So my son originally got his diagnosis when he was about three, which is typical for these kinds of things. And I would tell you at that time, like most parents, you know, I was lost, confused. You know we were trying to figure out exactly. You know to what degree this is because, you know, when your kids are young and you have a diagnosis, on the one hand there's a lot of hope because you feel there's all this time in the world and maybe he'll just grow out of it or maybe something will just change Right. And and of course, then when things don't start to change, then you have to kind of dig in a little more. But what I noticed and again this is very specific, I think, to to my journey as a, as a husband and as a father was in our marriage and in our family, and I think this is a pretty typical dynamic as well for most.
Speaker 4:You know, my son's mom, my ex-wife, was excellent with handling all of the nuts and bolts, all of the ins and outs, managing the doctors, the therapies, the insurance, and she was a very type, a personality and what was a teacher? So we had a teacher brain. I'm actually a former teacher as well, so I can appreciate that, you know. But she handled all that and you know her mom, you know my mother-in-law also was very involved and brought a lot to the table and I had to kind of figure out okay, so what do I do here? Because more often than not, with a lot of, with a lot of families, the, the dad, you know, men are fixers, right, and so if we can't fix the issue, what am I going to do? Well, let me throw myself into my work, let me throw myself into my career, let me pay for all these things. I might not understand all of it, I might not be the one actually taking the, you know our kid to this or that, but I can write a check. Well, in my case, I couldn't do that either, because I was not the breadwinner. My wife, my ex-wife, always made more money than me. So if I couldn't write the check and if I wasn't handling all of these things that she was, then what was my role, what was my purpose, what did I do, what did I contribute and what unfortunately transpired? And we went through a season of life again years ago where all of a sudden, things just stopped working right. Our relationship, our marriage, started to crumble a lot, because there's this guilt and shame that develops in terms of who's doing more or I'm contributing more to this and you're not contributing enough, and really I was just on an island and we didn't really have a lot of support. We were going through so much again in terms of, you know, finding, you know, the right school placement for him, figuring out the right insurance you know, I had a job loss of that really contributed to things, and again there was nowhere to pull from, there was no support, there was no structure.
Speaker 4:I tell a story in my presentations. I call it a tale of two parking lots where I describe a scene where I was sitting in my car one day, because the church we attended at the time there was a men's group I used to go to and I sat in my car, you know, and this was during the summer of 2012,. Actually, I sat in the car. I called a couple of my oldest friends trying to see if they could support me somehow. They had no clue what to do for me because the experience was so foreign to them, even though they were both married although they had no kids yet. And then I go into this men's group meeting and even all of those men who were minimum 20 years older than me, they still had nothing for me. And so I realized that very quickly I had no community.
Speaker 4:So what I did then was I did a couple of things is that I intentionally sought out community. I sought out community in those places where it was easiest enough to plug in, and for us, really, that came down to moving to a new town, getting my son in a new school district, connecting with those parents and families, connecting with folks in our community and that's actually where my first dance meetup group came out of was just those guys in the community. And then, you know, guys maybe that were maybe a town or two over and, as you know, as our journey, you know, progressed and developed, then it really became something where I saw what I didn't have, when I struggled and, you know, going through a season of life where I literally almost lost my marriage Now I did wind up getting divorced, but at least at the time I didn't lose it. But having almost gone through that, not sure about what the future was going to hold, even to the point of being suicidal, you know, which I'm also very transparent about as well. You know, going from that to really intentionally finding those resources, but then also trying to intentionally build them again with the support groups, with connecting with other organizations locally and around the country and giving back in a variety of ways, but developing relationships. Then that not only supported me when I needed them to, but also then I could take those things and then share it with others, and so it created a really nice synergy in my life.
Speaker 4:And, and of course, you know, what I didn't know was, you know, even a few years after this, I would really wind up needing those resources as a, you know, divorced dad and as a single father, at least for a short time, you know. So that's where I really say that there isn't anyone, that I wouldn't help, because I know what it is to be alone and have nothing and that is no way to live. And especially when you are walking this path of disability, it is not the ideal or optimal way to be doing this and you really need at least one relationship. That's the other thing I tell people. You might not have a whole community, you might not have a tribe. Start with one, start with one person. That can sometimes make all the difference.
Speaker 3:Isn't that the truth and it's really? I can definitely remember those early days where we were along the same lines. He was 18 months, it was severe, if you will at the time, and it, you know, self harming, and it was just so much, it was so much fear that really ran kind of our days. And I was so lucky because my husband had a sister with Down syndrome, so he had already kind of had his foot in that life of special needs and understanding how to kind of provide a safe space for someone, and so that was, you know, wonderful and he really guided us through a lot of time.
Speaker 3:And then on my end I was a medical paralegal, so I fell heavily into the research part of it and you just really want to understand you know what, why, where, where, all of the things. And you know, in that I mean also kind of started to recognize we are alone in this, just like you kind of said and, and you know, we couldn't lean on our parents at that time and we really felt like an island and kind of in that also, I agree, is where I recognize that like I have to make friends, like there's got to be a way, and just like you, went to the school, you know, was at the preschool and just started talking to all the parents and putting myself out there to these other parents, and the principal recognized and asked me if I would be the special needs parent liaison between them and the parents to be able to communicate back and forth. And, oh man, I was so excited, you know, this opportunity to be able to do this. But we only made it until first grade, um, and then, because and you know, he's so much different, he's twice exceptional and also semi-verbal, so he was reading at one and writing at two, but still non-speaking, until about four, four and a half, and today it's not reciprocative conversation, it's very much still echoelia and other language pieces.
Speaker 3:You know, we call it puzzle, puzzle talk and the puzzle buster, um, and so, in that, it's just that you know, like I started seeing, okay, well, how, where's the need, where's the lack, where where do we fill all of these gaps? And whoa, it's overwhelming and I can't believe. I look back and that's a decade ago, as probably yourself, you know, and they're teenagers, and he's grown so much. He's, you know, thrived in so many ways, but he still will probably live here, for all you know, with us for the rest of his life and it's a hard part to prepare for and you have to prepare, and that's another tricky part because you're getting to that guardianship kind of age as well, for you're probably doing a lot of learning on that end.
Speaker 3:What do you think as far as that really important part for especially maybe churches, because you're working in that ministry field what is one key like main component that you want them to have for the autistic community?
Speaker 4:Absolutely, and you know what you actually just spoke to it. Because community, absolutely. And you know what you actually just spoke to it. Because whenever I go to a church and this is where you know if I do any kind of an awareness talk or a training, or or even in my regular presentations if it's, let's say, like a conference, you know I always start with a picture of my family and of course now it's my new family, it's my new wife and step-mom.
Speaker 4:But you know, I often describe my son, I say, and now, granted, he's living in another state, at least for right now. But you know, in general, when he lived here and as he grew up, I say, you know, let me tell you about him. He was so busy with all of this stuff, you know, I mean, and yeah, he did therapy, but he did the fun therapy, he did the special needs karate, he did the equine therapy, he did the swim therapy, he was involved in all these things. And then, once in a while it might be something weird or different. You try ice skating or something, and who knows right, and I say but let me tell you one other important thing about him he doesn't have any friends, people who are not from this world might scratch their heads like, yeah, but wait, you just said he was involved in all this stuff and I say yes, but it's kind of this default where you kind of have your school friends, the ones who are just in your program, and, quite honestly, for him, or you want to go shoot hoops or play video games. He doesn't have that. He doesn't have the language, he doesn't have the social skills. Why is that an issue? Because he's 17 now. One day he'll be 30, 40, 50.
Speaker 4:Oh, by the way, he's an only child. Oh, by the way, so are both of his parents. So he doesn't. And now, granted, I'm remarried, and if mom remarries, you know, okay, you might have some extended family in there or whatever. But you know he's also it's also not his original birth family, so to speak. You know it's extended family and stepbrothers and you know all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 4:So you know, the reality is that at some point in his life, however old he gets and that's the thing that I also mentioned to churches or anybody the disability population is growing in number and it's also growing older. Now it's growing older because we have advances in medical science and that's all great, but the reality is that my son might live to be 70, 80, easy, maybe more, at some point. Mom and dad aren't going to be around anymore and neither will most of the people that he knows right now in his life. Who's going to be his community? We're going to be the people to check in on. We're going to be the people to say happy birthday, Merry Christmas, I love you. Who will those people be?
Speaker 4:This is where the church has, as I also like to say, an opportunity and an obligation, right? Because in the same way that a good church community might connect with somebody in hospice or you know someone in elder care or memory care, like my own mother, quite honestly you know, in that same way you also want to be connecting with those individuals who might have a group home situation of some form, and maybe they're not, you know in, you know in like medically incapacitated or, you know, not near the end of their life necessarily, but they might just be older and not have anybody left. So there you have an opportunity to take. You know and again, this is also something when I work with churches, because a lot of churches today have some form of a disability ministry, they have some form of a program, some form of an environment, but the problem is, is that they really see it as either like an extension of a kids ministry or kind of a band-aid thing. We have some families who have something, and so we're just going to try to make it best for them.
Speaker 4:The reality is, is that you want that to grow to the point where those folks are welcomed and accepted like anybody else, right? Because oh, by the way, they've got interests and they've got skills and talents, and you know the churches that do this really well. Folks who identify with a disability are also contributing, right. They're also serving, they're also volunteering, right, it might look different for different folks, but they still, if they have the ability to do something, then that's what they acknowledge and that's what they lean into. And also, in that same way, we need to go beyond the church walls and say, ok, how are we supporting that community again when they may not have anybody left? And that, quite honestly, as a parent, parent is what grieves me the most.
Speaker 4:I mean, there's there's lots of things to grieve, and there certainly have been, but that is the thing that absolutely scares the living you know, whatever you want to say, and and it's it's a thing that maybe keeps me up at night the most, and so that's why I really have a passion with this, and especially when I I talk to these church communities and things, you know, this is what I really, you know, want to impress upon them. Is this, this, for a lot of families, this is a very, very serious issue and and you can help us we're not saying you need to fix it, we're not saying you need to do all the work, but you can be an integral piece of the puzzle that, you know, gives a family, you know, kind of this, this identity of peace and safety, you know, as they move forward in life.
Speaker 3:Absolutely what. How would somebody start any of my listeners now if they wanted to start, you know, this conversation with their church or you know it. Should they reach out to you to get advice? How do they reach out to their own church leaders, um, on their own, or um, do they reach out to other parents to kind of come with them as like a little you know tribe, or what is? What kind of advice do you give them?
Speaker 4:You know it's, it's different for every church. And this is the other thing, too, that I mention to people, because sometimes people see you know my organization and my work as like a salesperson, like I have a kid or a program I'm going to sell you. I don't sell you anything. Matter of fact, we work with everybody for free. We're straight ministry, right. So I mean you know what I tell churches is listen, don't get hung up on money. It's a matter of what works best for you, because every church is different in terms of their size, their resources, their physical space. So it's going to look differently for everybody.
Speaker 4:But where I like to start out is actually with the leadership, right. So if there are, you know, church leaders listening to this, or if you're a parent of disability and nothing's going on in your church, you really want to start with the leadership, if at all possible. And the reason why is because, again, going back to this idea that we're not going, at the end of the day, we're really not going for inclusion. Inclusion's fine, but what we're really going for is acceptance, right. Because the problem is is that many churches make a classroom or make an environment or something, and then they stop and it stops growing and a lot of people don't even know it's even there, because it's just that weird classroom that's down the hall and down the steps and we don't know what goes on there, right? So the idea here is start with the leadership so they can embrace it and make it part of the DNA of the church, make it an integral part of the community. That has to come from the leadership on down.
Speaker 4:So, for example, what I do, my organization has offices all over the country and we can support people with in-person training. We have tons of online resources. We can work with you virtually. So there are a number of ways you could do it, and all you would have to do is go to johnnyandfriendsorg punch in your zip code. You'll find a local office and if you're in the Midwest, it's probably me, maybe not, but probably you know. But we can work with you in a variety of ways. The other thing that I will also mention is because, again, sometimes I talk to churches and they might have a particular need. So they might say for example it's actually J-O-N-I.
Speaker 4:Sorry, it's out?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I should have asked you.
Speaker 4:It's okay, it's okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it confuses people, because when they see J-O-N-I, they think Joni, and it's actually Joni, believe it or not. But you know that's a great place to start. But also, too, you know I'm, as I mentioned, in terms of my other work with other organizations around the country. There are a ton of ministries and organizations that do what we do, not necessarily in terms of you know, our size or scope, but a lot of them equally have great resources, some resources we actually don't have, right. So what I like to emphasize, too, is listen, if I don't have it, I can get it for you or I can point you in the right direction, right? So if it's something specific you're looking for or you know this is what we're thinking in our head great, let's see how we can make that happen. But the other thing I want to emphasize too and going back to that point about you know, money and resources, because that's usually the first thing people go to, just as a natural response how much is this going to cost? Well, here's the thing I don't cost anything. But what do you want to spend on the ministry? Do you need to spend $10,000? You can, but you don't have to. Do you need to spend $1,000? You can, but you don't have to. You could literally start with nothing. And again, I emphasize this to churches there are folks I know that have incredible programs. They don't have a classroom, they don't have a sensory room, they don't have, you know, a lot of things other bigger churches do, but they have a great program. They've got great volunteer buddies. You know they have a great structure in place. So there are a whole variety of ways to do it. But don't let any hang up, get to you and say, well, we just can't do that.
Speaker 4:Or the other thing that really gets to me is when a church will say you know we don't do that, but go talk to the folks down the street. You know it's kind of like for those of you who remember the old Christmas movie, Miracle on 34th Street, macy's doesn't have it. Go to Gimbel's. Well, here's the problem that family might really want to go to that church. Maybe that family grew up in that church, maybe that family really likes that church for some reason they have other friends or family there. It's closer.
Speaker 4:Or in general, you know the church should just be a welcoming, inviting place period, and disability should not stand in the way of that. So you know, it's great if you're helping them or you believe you're helping them, but why don't you make your doors open and be honest? And that's the other thing I say too. Look, I'm a parent, I get it. Look, just be honest, here's what we have. We have this, we don't have that, or maybe we have nothing, but you're welcome. You're welcome to be here and if we can make it work, great. And you know, if you want to bring in some resources to help us, awesome. But just be honest, right, as opposed to saying it's just not something we do.
Speaker 4:Well, here's the thing. Going back again to my other point about the disability population growing in number and getting older, you know churches can't ignore this part of their community. And again, that's another thing I hear we don't have those folks here. Yeah, you do. You might not realize it. Or maybe there are folks in the community that won't come or won't attend because they don't feel welcomed or they don't feel that it's as successful as it could be.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I really hope a lot of listeners in my city are. You know, listening and understanding, because I live in Utah. I'll let you just go with that, letting everyone belong where they desire to. If you know, like you said, with the resources you have available in your churches and in your support groups, for sure, what about for the dads out there? Is there an online group that you have that we can send them to to get ahold of you? Things like that? Tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 4:Sure, well, they, they can always reach out to me. You can find me on social media or through my website or whatever it's. It's easy to find me. But an organization that I actually want to recommend that I always recommend when I do these kinds of interviews is Special Fathers Network. So Special Fathers Network you can find it online if you just Google Special Fathers Network, and it's a national organization. It's based here out of Chicago, but it has incredible reach and they have incredible resources. So what do they have?
Speaker 4:First of all, we talked about support groups. They have virtual support groups called mastermind groups. The model comes out of like the corporate world, but don't let that scary or anything, but it's, you know, they're wonderful. Just meetup groups with guys from around the country. Sometimes, you know, it's a mix of guys from around the country. Sometimes it's specific to a given area, just kind of based on what works for you. Some groups meet different days or nights and that type of thing. Based on what works for you. Some groups meet different days or nights and that type of thing. But I have made some wonderful relationships and friendships. I'm not currently doing those meetup groups right now, but I have in the past and they are incredible and it's an incredible organization. There are a ton of great resources on there. So, talking about podcasts, for example, I would tell you that disability-wise that podcast not to insult yours, of course when you look at that.
Speaker 4:When you look at that podcast list, it is very, very impressive. Pretty much anyone that has done anything disability wise is on there to to some level. And what's also cool about it, too, is as, as part of the virtual groups, the the meetup groups. Okay, so I'll just tell you this story quick. So part of that is that we do like a book club, like a book study, and it's usually a book on disability or, you know, once in a while it might just be like a guy's book or a dad's book, but David, who runs the organization, he always gets the author of the book that we're reading to come on and do a little Q&A, and that's regardless of the book we're reading, mind you. So one time this was a couple years ago we read I'm sure you're familiar with Temple Grandin and we read her book Thinking in Pictures, and Temple came on. And Temple came on, did a Q&A with us, and what's actually funny is that for that Q&A she was on but another guy who was actually connected to our organization, and we got movie or TV buffs here, but there's a guy named Joe Montagna. Joe Montagna is a Hollywood actor originally from Chicago, but he's also a father of disability. So because he's part of the organization, technically, he was on the call too. So you had a Hollywood guy, you had Temple Grandin, you had these guys from all over the country. It's like, hey, this is a party right. So it's that kind of connection, those kind of resources. And there's great YouTube videos. There's jump into a big group. At least not right away, you can get connected with one mentor guy. He might be in your area or maybe somebody virtually, you know, maybe same age or disability as your child, but you can get connected with a mentor father that can then kind of be like your life coach in this area, so to speak. So there's a ton of great resources with it. I absolutely love it. So I would really encourage you to check them out.
Speaker 4:There are a couple of other smaller organizations and ministries that also do stuff. There's one called Fatherhood Commission, so it's like commission with a C-O and capital M Fatherhood Commission. They're a national organization as well. They're a national organization as well. They're a Christian organization. So not all of them are faith-based, for those that makes a difference, but they are also a great organization that also does virtual meetups. And then there is another Christian one called Rising Above Ministries and they're out of Kentucky and they actually do really good parent support groups for moms and dads.
Speaker 4:So I would strongly suggest, like any of those are ones that I absolutely have vetted and would speak to, you know for sure, but definitely explore that. And again, if you're a guy out there and this is all really fresh and new for you and you have nobody definitely consider, you know, maybe connecting with Special Fathers. You know, on some level, if it's a group thing or an individual thing, but again, I'm always happy to connect with anybody. You know I, I I'm really serious about that. Anybody can find me online, connect with me through social media or, like I said, website, that type of thing, and, and I'm I'm always happy to have a conversation with you and see if maybe there's, you know, someone or something that I can connect you with.
Speaker 3:I love that. I'm the same spirit. I want to just connect people with all the right things and resources and families, and give me your website so I can share that with everyone.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's just my name. It's just johnfellacom, so J-O-H-N-F-E-L-A dot com and you'll see samples of my writing, speaking, podcasts et cetera on there. So you kind of get a flavor for who I am and what I'm involved with. Again, if you're interested in some of the resources I mentioned, either for supporting your church in terms of disability ministry, or if you're looking for someone you know, even as a speaker, or someone to consult from a parenting perspective, fatherhood perspective please reach out. Like I said, I do a little bit of everything.
Speaker 3:So whatever your question or need is, feel free to shoot into me and I really love the work you're doing is very necessary and supports for dads Just there couldn't be enough and I don't think enough dads look for them. So hopefully we can get this to as many dads out there as is necessary to do some. It is necessary to do some. I'll send some to my. You know some of the great dads I know that are out there making wonderful you know programs and other podcasts and things, and we'll just get the word out as much as possible. It was such a nice conversation with you today. Thank you so much for being here and sharing your story and the vulnerable parts and all and really appreciate that.
Speaker 4:Absolutely, it was wonderful, thank you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks so much, and we'll definitely be in touch.
Speaker 2:Awesome. In the heart of the city she's shining bright. Oh yeah, stories of love and courage All throughout the night, her voice resonating An anthem for all Through trials and trials. She answers the call, thank you. We are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are. Thank you.
