Episode 247: Therapy Outside Normal Environments. Nick Cardone

Nick Cardone is a Counselling Therapist in private practice living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. For over 15 years, Nick’s has worked in community-based, not-for-profit, publicly funded, and private practice mental health settings with adolescents and adults.

This diverse background has informed his current focus as a therapist, which is that men and boys have unique needs when it comes to mental health and addictions work. 

He believes that, while stigma is indeed a barrier, more importantly, that the social constructs of masculinity play a deeper role, and the way we offer therapy needs to better align with the unique needs of men.

Nick has just completed a 2-year pilot project, funded by the Movember Foundation to address these special mental health needs, and the shocking statistics around men and suicide. The T.O.N.E. Project (Therapy Outside Normal Environments) was 3-month group that used outdoor, adventure and experiential methods combined with expressive modalities like art, music and writing.

Attrition rates in mental health settings (group, individual, etc.) across North America are high (research says between 30 and 60%). The TONE Project had an attrition rate of one, which is pretty staggering (This works out to be 2.9% of total participants).

Nick’s primary goal is to share this vital work with clinicians and clients alike - that there are other ways we can work with the men and boys on our caseloads: whether sitting solo by a campfire with a journal, rock climbing, volunteering at a community garden, or creating music - men have other options for how therapy happens or where it takes place.