Professor Philip Morgan (https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/philip-morgan) is co-director of the Global Sport and Movement Collaborative at the University of Newcastle. He has led the development of globally recognised family well-being programs with a distinctive focus on men and fathers. His flagship programs include ‘Healthy Dads, Healthy Kids’; Daughters and Dads Active and Empowered; Healthy Youngsters, Healthy Dads; SHED-IT, and Workplace POWER.

These innovative programs have attracted strong community, media, and industry engagement and are grounded in community collaboration. Professor Morgan’s work has received multiple national and international awards for benefitting society, improving wellbeing and research excellence.

In Australia, 93% of the prison population is male, and around half are fathers. When a father goes to prison, the impact on children can be devastating – they often experience poorer mental health, behavioural difficulties, insecure attachment, social isolation, shame and fear. Despite this, there are few programs in Australia designed to support the wellbeing of these vulnerable children and their families.

This project aims to change that by bringing the Healthy Dads Healthy Kids program into NSW correctional centres. Developed at the University of Newcastle, Healthy Dads Healthy Kids is a multi-award-winning program that engages fathers and their children to improve physical activity, healthy eating, family relationships, and social-emotional wellbeing. Ultimately these changes aim to strengthen family functioning, enhance the mental and physical health of both fathers and children, and help break cycles of intergenerational disadvantage.

The program has already been successfully adapted for delivery in Scottish prisons, where it received strong support from families and staff and led to positive outcomes for both fathers and children.

Working in partnership with Corrective Services NSW, we will adapt, deliver, and evaluate Healthy Dads Healthy Kids in four NSW correctional centres. In the first year, we will co-design training and resources and finalise program delivery plans. In the second year, we will test the program with participating families and measure its impact on children’s mental health, wellbeing, self-esteem, and family relationships. In the final year, we will assess how the program could be expanded across other prisons in Australia.

Co-Investigators: Dr Lee Ashton, A/Professor Myles Young, Professor Kate Hunt, Professor Cindy Gray and Dr Jake MacDonald.