Ben Taylor (Bear) and I had the privilege of presenting a paper to the Native American Fatherhood Conference. Our subject was suicide among Native-American adolescents boys and young men. Why? Because in the indigenous communities, the suicide rate among teens and young men is 3-4 times the rate in the general community.

Bear (Ben Taylor) is Native-American, I am not. It was a wonderful experience to meet so many Native-American men committed to helping other men to live more fulfilling, satisfied lives. Elder Albert Poole started a course for Native-American fathers by himself six years ago. In those six years, joined by many like minded men and women, he has developed this twelve week course for men who are considering fatherhood, who are new fathers or have established families. Over 100 tribes have participated and more than 2500 men have graduated from the course. This man and these men were an inspiration.