David’s Story: Navigating Panic and Fatherhood

Panic, new fatherhood, and a middle-of-the-night ER visit push David to start therapy; he shares his story about shame, isolation, and the relief of realizing other men feel this too.

“Where chaos started to reign in my life…” In his mid-20s, David began feeling trapped in public spaces. Dinners cut short. Anxious exits.

“I couldn’t be a passenger in a vehicle… I had to be driving.” The isolation piled up. “I started to feel like… a broken individual,” he says.

After his partner gave birth, fear surged. Sleepless and not eating for days, he walked out at 1 a.m. and checked himself into the ER. “They told me… I was having… a nervous breakdown of sorts.” The moment he saw his partner’s text—Where are you?—he realized he’d left her alone with their newborn. “The response was, you need to see somebody.”

And he’s glad he did. David accessed counselling through work and started “a therapeutic journey.” It wasn’t comfortable at first. “It felt really emasculating… like I failed as a professional, as a dad, as a man.” But showing up helped him sleep, eat, and parent with steadier ground.

What he wishes other men knew: You’re not the only one. “Many of my peers [were] going through similar journeys… just no one was talking about it.” A space to say the quiet parts out loud: fear, shame, panic, “might have made a difference… before I had to check myself in the hospital.”

Some things we learned from David’s story:

• You’re human. We all need help sometimes.

• Start with one step: talk to a counsellor, call a support line, tell a friend.

• Find conversations where other men are honest. You might find others have had similar experiences.

If you want to talk to someone or find local support near you, explore practical supports and resources at Men &. You don’t have to do this alone.