Brian Braganza is a Courage & Renewal Facilitator and experiential educator specializing in vocational counselling, masculinity, leadership and youth engagement. Brian delivers experiential programs for men and boys, which builds their abilities to connect authentically and live into their wholeness. He co-designed the T.O.N.E. Project, Therapy Outside Normal Environments, with Counselling Therapist Nick Cardone. T.O.N.E. is a unique men’s therapeutic project that takes me out of the office and uses time on the land, creativity and soulful connections for healing and growth.

Brian has a long history with the HeartWood Centre for Community Youth Development and supports a wide diversity of youth and young adults to live into their vocational call and have meaningful roles and voices in their communities.  From 2012-2015 he co-designed and delivered Dalhousie University’s Sustainability Leadership Certificate Program, increasing student’s capacity to take effective social and environmental action. Brian’s own personal transformations and continual desire to uncover his best self, led him to the work of Parker J. Palmer and the Center for Courage & Renewal.

Brian lives and works on Mi’kmaqi, the stolen lands of the Mi’kmaw people. He and his wife Tara Reynolds work in partnership with Tandem Truths Consulting. They live with their daughter in a straw-bale home. Brian is also a wilderness traveler, writer, musician, grows organic garlic and is restory-ing a 150 year old barn.

Favorite quote

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Maya Angelou

Book Recommendation

My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies

Resmaa Menakem

Where I'm Finding Inspiration

I've been caring for my parents over the past few years, which included burying my father in 2017. My mother lived with us for 14 months in 2021-2022 and is now in a nursing home with dementia. I find inspiration in the gift of caring for my parents as they journey through the liminal shifting from elders to ancestors.

What I Do For Fun, Rest, and Renewal

When things get tough, a good building project helps me rest, renew and use my head, heart and hands. In these moments I'm able to transform the difficult into the creative, to create something functional out of hardship and heartbreak. I also like to wrestle with my step-daughter, play music with friends, travel through the wilderness, read to my wife, and grow impossible gardens.

Organizations I've Worked With

  • HeartWood Centre for Community Youth Development www.heartwood.ns.ca

  • Tatamagouche Centre www.tatacentre.ca