Meet Your Instructor
I am Todd Duermyer, and I have been happily married for over 20 years. My wife and I tried to have children but simply could not. Then one day, thanks to a placement agency, *poof* we had a four-year-old.
We knew our lives were going to change … we just did not realize how much. Yes, there were challenges, and we overcame them together. Then something unexpected happened, I broke. I began wrestling with anxiety daily.
At first I “sucked it up” and took it like a man. If you know, you know. I am a man, husband and now a father, but the stigma is still there, I believed that no one cared and I had to wrestle it on my own. That is until a rough night occurred and my wife begged me to get help. It was then I realized I was acting like an ostrich and burying my head in the sand.
Shortly after that night I decided to act more like a lion and decided to face this anxiety head-on. I reached out to my doctor and he sent me to behavioral therapy. Counseling has greatly helped and I strongly encourage anyone who may be struggling with anxiety to seek out help through counseling. Through meeting with my counselor, and a lot of research, I discovered tool after tool that helped me begin to win the battle against my anxiety. Some of the tools are similar to a parachute, intended to be used in the moment it is needed. Some can even be combined for potentially better results. Other tools are more long-term in nature and are effective in their own right.
I also discovered that a resource such as this, especially for Dads, the very resource I was desperately seeking for, did not exist. Which is why I decided to take the creation of this resource upon myself. I am not the only Dad who wrestles with anxiety. Men’s mental health matters, our marriages matter, our children matter, and every Dad out there is worth it.
It should also be noted that I am not a licensed counselor in any way. I am a Dad, who struggles with anxiety and wants to help other Dads win the battle as well. Any advice, tip, or technique is not intended to replace anything medical or behavioral as guided by a medical or mental health professional. This is supplemental, and for possible legal reasons, the content in this resource should be used for entertainment or educational purposes.
