Third Force News speaks to former soldier, minister and policeman - and new Fathers Network Scotland chief executive - David Devenney
There are few men whose career paths have taken them from the police to the third sector via the Royal Marines and the Church of Scotland.
David Devenney, who was recently appointed as the new director of Fathers Network Scotland, however has a stereotype-smashing brief to match his CV. The the 62-year-old aims to tackle outdated gender stereotypes in Scottish society and boost dads’ nurturing role in the home.
“I want to bring the fruits of my background and experience in different kinds of leadership to positively bear upon all that we are currently doing and our ambitions for the future,” he said.
“We want to be in the vanguard of a culture change that sees Scotland transformed to become the very best place in the UK to be a dad. I believe we have the team, the ambition and vision to help make that a reality.”
Born and raised in Glasgow, Devenney served as a police officer in the city for four years before joining the Royal Marines Commandos in 1981. He saw combat service during the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982, later working in a staff position in the Ministry of Defence and NATO headquarters.
After a brief stint studying theology and serving as a parish minister in the Church of Scotland, he became a Commando-trained Padre on the staff of the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines and later Chaplain to the Special Boat Service (SBS), serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. After leaving the service in 2009, he worked as team leader in a prison project for a UK charity, teaching life skills and personal development to inmates in three high security prisons.
“I never really saw myself as going into the third sector,” Devenney reveals. “I was always quite keen on joining the police. I ended up working with my uncle when I left school, but aged 19 I left to join the police.
“I did that four years but quite quickly found that I wasn’t gaining from what I was putting into it. I was walking down Queen Street in Glasgow, towards Argyle Street, when I saw a green beret in the window of a careers office. I thought that is something I could do, I joined the Royal Brigs in 1980 and served for 12 years.”
It wasn’t until much later that he started to look towards the voluntary sector as providing an opportunity to continue to support the people who most needed his help.
“When I finished my chaplaincy I realised I wasn’t keen to work in a parish, but wanted to continue serving people and the community. That was when I started to explore the third sector and think about how I could get involved.”
Devenney began working on a freelance basis as head of programmes for Fathers Network Scotland in late 2015 – and played a key role in the delivery of the Year of the Dad project, when he collaborated with Strange Town Theatre Company to commission the Edinburgh Festival sell-out play Being a Dad. Written by Duncan Kidd from the interwoven experiences of fathers from all walks of life, the play has been performed 17 times and forms the centre piece of David’s work in three Scottish Prisons for FNS.
He joined the charity at what was an exciting time, with the Year of the Dad, but also a sad time as founder David Drysdale died from cancer in the middle of 2016.
“I only really got to know David in the last few months of his life. But David was the person that really brought forward the idea and ignited passion for it in other people.
“It was hard losing him, but the team all came together. Sam Pringle took over as director and in a way I supposed we parked our grief. It gave us a high octane fuel that got us through the Year of the Dad, and we were able to reflect on it and think that David would be proud of everything we had done.”
As a father to two grown-up children and a hands-on grandad, David is passionate about the mission of Fathers Network Scotland – to drive positive cultural change by inspiring organisations, communities and individuals to engage, support and empower men to be the fathers they want to be.
“Hyper masculinity is something that is hopefully becoming far less common,” he said.
“You see it a lot in prisons, and that was one of the things we were addressing in our pilot projects there.
“Piers Morgan was left with pie in his face for his recent comments about Daniel Craig wearing a baby carrier. People are beginning to call that attitude out. I don’t think we will get these kind of overtly masculine characters like Jeremy Clarkston on television any more. I don’t think these type of attitudes are going to be around for much longer.”
And he feels it is important that young men are given support as they become fathers, to ensure they feel confident from the off.
“When a woman becomes pregnant one of the first things they do, amongst many other things, is carry out a mental health assessment,” said Devenney. “But the only thing they ask men is whether or not they smoke, as it can cause physical harm to the baby.
“This is in a context of where the biggest killer for men aged under 45 in Scotland is suicide. Not many people know that one in 10 men get post-natal depression, it is absolutely vital that we encourage new fathers to speak about their mental health.”
