Leading Families: Mental Health and the Modern Father Figure
Meet the Five Guys
- George Hamilton was raised by his father after his parents divorced when he was 4. His father was a single parent for him and his two older sisters. George is a father of two and the president of Hamilton Consulting International, a Kids’ Minds Matter advisory board member and a Lee Health Foundation board member.
- Jason Sabo and his three siblings were raised by his mother because his father died from cancer when he was 9 years old. Dr. Sabo is a father of two and a pediatric development and behavioral specialist at Lee Health.
- Paul Simeone’s father lost his dad when he was 5. His father then had an abusive stepfather, which resulted in a lack of a male role model and negatively impacted his parenting. Dr. Simeone is a father of two and the vice president-medical director of behavioral health at Lee Health.
- Armando Llechu was 9 when he was told his father had a year to live. His father lived beyond his prognosis but was extremely sick for most of Armando’s childhood. His mother primarily raised him. Armando is a father of five and the chief officer of hospital operations and women and children’s services at Lee Health.
- Dan Beaulieu knows the toll that mental health challenges have on a family with a teenage daughter who has struggled with receiving proper mental health care. He is the owner of Southwest Florida Five Guys Burgers & Fries franchises.
Men and Women in the Home
- According to the U.S. Census, 18.3 million children, which is 1 out of 4, live without a biological, step or adoptive father in the home.
- Research shows that kids raised without a father in the home are more likely to face poverty, abuse, display behavioral issues, face infant mortality, more likely to abuse substances, more likely to go to prison, more likely to be obese, more likely to drop out of school, and girls are more likely to become pregnant as teenagers.
- 84% of single-parent homes are run by women.
- Children who feel close to their fathers and have a father present are more likely to enter college or find stable employment and less likely to have teen birth or spend time in jail.
- Before women were given the right to vote in 1920, only 5% of married women had gainful employment. Today, 76% of married women have gainful employment, creating a huge shift in how families function.
