Since an emergency liver transplant at 21 years old Brian's life has been a study in things not going according to plan.  The liver transplant killed his planned military career, so he went into training as a nurse where he discovered that direct patient care and a heavily suppressed immune system were not sustainable as a career.  He eventually found himself as the Facilities Manager for a swath of rental properties, completed a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Management, became one of only a few thousand IFMA Certified Facility Managers in the world, and in 2023 after conquering industrial safety and maintenance retired from the corporate world to be able to better care for his 6 children and his own health.  He now works part time designing and building custom furniture and cabinetry at Squirrelly Meadows Woodworks.

Brian lives in Salt Lake City with his wife, 6 children aged 11-18 (2 biological and 4 stepchildren), and 3 dogs.  He makes sure everyone is fed and gets to where they need to be while keeping the cars running and the house in a constant state of improvement.  Brian's house is famous for his cooking and is where the teenagers hang out; it isn't uncommon to find him at the kitchen table listening to and giving advice to kids who don't have a stable father figure in their lives.  When he has free time Brian can be found out fishing, shooting 3 Gun or USPSA matches, taking kids to heavy metal concerts, playing games on his home built PC, or reading 30-40 books a year, mostly history or science fiction.  Brian co-hosts The Reasonable Person Podcast with Paul Lathrop and Kat Ainsworth, and decided to start up Unhinged Dads as a fun place to talk about the challenges of raising kids in the modern world, working to become a better dad and human being, all from the perspective of someone who has tread a unique path through some unbelievable shit.

Dave grew up the son of Presbyterian pastor and an elementary school teacher in a small logging town in western Washington state. Some people did something during his junior year in college, and as a result, he enlisted in the United States Navy in early 2004. At language school he chased a young lady until she caught him, and despite his favorite uncle keeping them moving in separate directions for several years they married in 2007. Deployments prevented procreation until 2014, but since then Dave and Mrs. Dave have bred three delightful junior humans and look forward to unleashing them upon the world.

 Since becoming a father, Dave has fought against depression and anxiety, and life has given him the opportunity to become an amateur disaster survivor. He, Mrs. Dave, and the Davelings have learned to thrive through prolonged duty-mandated separations, grand theft, flooding, multiple cross-continental PCSes, stillbirth, and temporary displacement. During the day, Dave runs the household for his Active Duty wife, educates, entertains & endures his children, and works to maintain his tenuous grasp on health and sanity. 

Nik was born in Texas to Indian immigrant parents and isn’t sure which influenced him more, but people who know him will tell you that he took the most obnoxious parts from both, proving at least one downside to multiculturalism.  He grew up unsure whether he wanted to engineer new machines or fix existing kids, but ended up choosing the latter after some particularly poignant experiences in high school including a life-changing spinal cord injury.

It took 14 years of education and training before he was trusted with children, which he took quite personally, but it’s been explained to him repeatedly that that’s just how long it takes to make a fully-fledged child psychiatrist.  Regardless, now they can’t stop him from treating childhood trauma and helping families navigate neurodevelopmental differences like ADHD and Autism.  Or from dressing up like Batman and claiming it’s ‘for the children’.

With 10 years under his belt as a professional parent advisor and only two as an amateur parent, Nik can say that good parenting is just as simple as he always thought it was, but the distance between simple and easy is even bigger than he imagined.