Research, Stress, and Contentment, Dads on the Air, 13 July, 2010.

With special guests:

A diversity of subject matter is covered in the topics of this week’s show. We commence the program with an interesting interview with Dr Bruce Smyth, who is Adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Public Health, La Trobe University.   
Dr Smyth has previously worked at the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) as a Senior Research Fellow. He was also a member of the Ministerial Task Force on Child Support.  

Today he speaks candidly about some of the areas of research and number crunching he has been involved with, in relation to the gathering of statistics on the impacts of Australian Family Laws, on various vulnerable sections of the community.  

Next we speak with Graeme Campbell, a spokesman for the group  SRL- R [Self Representing Litigants – Resources]. SRL-R is a support organisation for those who by choice or necessity, have decided to represent themselves in either the Family Court of Australia or the Federal Magistrates Court in Children’s matters.  

Unless you are familiar with the Family Court environment, representing yourself in this Court will be one of the most stressful experiences you will ever encounter. Especially since those finding themselves in such unfortunate position, generally are already deeply traumatized, due to a number of the nasty side effects of the breakup of their family.   

Last but certainly not least, we speak to John Stapleton, the founder of Dads on the Air, and for many years the regular on-air presenter of our weekly program. John co-founded the program more than 10 years ago, and with his journalistic experience was the driving force behind the success of the program.  

John is a respected journalist of many years standing, who has worked for several of the leading newspapers of Australia. Now residing in Thailand, he sounds like he has discovered his Utopia in the middle of Asia.  

A true gentleman himself, John loves the gentle nature of the Thai population and the way families are valued. Compared to the individualistic nature of our own, dog eat dog culture, he certainly sounds contented and very much attracted to the Thai way of life.   

We very much enjoyed speaking with John, especially listening to the beautiful way he weaves his words  and sentences together, to present a wonderful picture in the mind of the listener. We certainly miss the creative journalistic skills he contributed to the program during those many years. 

Most unlike John, he ran out of phone credit in the middle of the interview, so we hope to hear from him again as soon as he obtains a re-charge.