Dr Ray Levy from "The Fatherhood Project"
Thursday, April 4, 2013 at 7 p.m.
at the Chelmsford Library

Dr. Ray Levy will speak about the importance of nurturing good father child relationships and will offer some tips and important information on how you can connect with the emotional life of your child.

Dr. Ray Levy is Founding Director of The Fatherhood Project at Massachusetts General Hospital where he has worked for nearly 20 years. His interest in fatherhood is both personal and professional. Dr. Levy's knowledge of the fatherhood research supports the idea that emotionally engaged fathering leads to multiple advantages for children. Currently, The Fatherhood Project gives talks to schools and community groups, does research to determine what the quality of the father-child relationship predicts about the child's future functioning and teaches a course on fathering skills based on its own curriculum to incarcerated dads. Dr. Levy is also writing a curriculum on fathering skills for divorcing dads who are committed to excellence in post-divorce fathering.  Dr. Levy is expecting to expand The Fatherhood Project with new initiatives both within and outside Boston. He is a Clinical Psychologist who has spent much of his time in his psychotherapy practice in Cambridge for 30 years and has published articles and books on psychotherapy research.

Dr. Levy found Andre Dubus' Townie emotionally powerful and rich with themes relating to father-son relationships. Dr. Levy will discuss down-to-earth research findings that intersect with Andre Dubus' real life experience. His life touches on themes of father absence, the persistent emotional injury of living a financially deprived life and the common use of violence for short-term restoration of the self and escape from feelings of powerlessness. A son's need for approval from his father is almost desperately woven in the memoir. Mr Dubus is also an example of a boy who felt he was on a rudderless life course with no adult who had enough interest (father) or ability (mother for practical reasons) to guide him. Dr. Levy's words will combine the best of social science with the beautifully written subjective experience of Mr. Dubus.

Learn more about The Fatherhood Project at Mass General Hospital at http://thefatherhoodproject.org

This is a ONE BOOK Chelmsford program funded by the Chelmsford Friends of the Library