Juan Baxter on Love, Legacy, and Creating Safe Spaces for Men to Heal and Lead

In this deeply moving episode of the I Am Dad Podcast, host Kenneth Braswell sits down with Juan Baxter, a relationship therapist, youth mentor, and co-founder of the media and training duo Those Baxters. Juan shares his story of growing up without a present father, raising his own son at 19, and transforming generational cycles through intentional fatherhood, community service, and spiritual calling.

Juan reflects on his decision to put himself on child support, become a single father in his teens, and walk away from street life for the sake of his children. With equal parts vulnerability and wisdom, he explains how faith led him into social work, radio, theater, and fatherhood programming—culminating in his role as a Gentle Warriors Academy facilitator with Fathers Incorporated.

Together, Juan and Kenneth dive into the realities of parenting while healing, the importance of availability over perfection, the needs of men reentering community life, and how brotherhood among fathers can help men thrive where systems once failed them.