‘Look at what is the root cause’: Counselling group for abusive men seeks funding increase

It’s been nearly 40 years since the group counselling program for abusive men called New Leaf started operating in a small office in Westville, N.S. 

In all that time, executive director Russell Borden says the program has never seen as many “intakes” as the roughly 120 men who started at the program in the last year. 

“Right now, we currently have the highest numbers ever,” Borden said in a recent interview. 

He’s worried the staff of four do not have the capacity to respond in the way he wants. 

A bit more than a week ago he put a proposal in front of the provincial government: more than double the funding New Leaf receives, to allow it to hire four more staff and run more programs.  

In its 2025-26 budget, the province broke down roughly $100 million in spending on various existing initiatives related to intimate partner violence. 

These included prevention and intervention programs, transition houses, and organizations supporting victims. 

Borden acknowledges the amount he has received has increased in recent years, but he feels more should be done in the area of men’s counselling and prevention. 

“I’m not taking anything away from survivors and victims of intimate partner violence. I just want to be clear on that,” he says.

“But the only way to adequately address the problem and work with everyone involved is ensuring that there’s parity when it comes to funding.” 

‘We need to talk about our feelings’

New Leaf is also known as the Pictou County Opportunity for Men Association, but its catchment area covers Pictou, Antigonish and Guysborough counties.

It tries to get men who’ve previously been through the program to act as role models for new entrants.

Borden calls it “heart-wrenching” to see men talk about learning how to stop hurting their partners and children. He thinks this helps other men see a path forward for them. 

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“Men are really hesitant to come through the door because they think they’re the only ones that this is happening to,” Borden says. 

“We need to talk about our feelings. We need to talk about what we’re going through and not just bottle it all up and become angry.” 

The group discussions are guided by staff and happen two nights a week. The rest of the week is devoted to administration. 

The province says New Leaf received just under $359,000 from the province this fiscal year, but Borden says the changes he proposed would cost an additional $440,000. 

The idea that abusive men can change is also behind the work that therapist Tod Augusta-Scott does at the Bridges Institute in Truro. 

Augusta-Scott says he began his career “pretty cynical” about that. 

But over 30 years he’s become more hopeful, and he sees other reasons to believe the conversation on intimate partner violence is changing.  

The Mass Casualty Commission’s conclusions in 2023 and the recent deaths of six women in what police say were acts of intimate partner violence are fuelling what Augusta-Scott calls a “dramatic increase” of interest in prevention. 

“We can actually make a difference to many of these men’s lives in a way that gets them to not only stop the violence, but actually choose to repair the harm that they’ve done,” he said in a recent interview. 

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Tackling the roots of violence

Augusta-Scott is quick to point out some men do not stop using violence. There’s a portion of abusers who do not respond to interventions. In the worst and most tragic of cases, some kill their partners. 

However, Augusta-Scott says most of the cases he sees are not considered high-risk. 

“That is an important part of the work, and it’s a minority of the work,” he said. 

“Actually what characterizes most of the work is the emotional abuse, the yelling and screaming, the slamming doors,” he says. 

He doesn’t downplay the importance of intervening in high-risk situations, or the possibility that a low-risk case can escalate. 

But, he says, chronic physical violence is “often presented as if it’s all of the work, and that’s not true.” 

Augusta-Scott says most of the men he works with start by being reluctant to take responsibility.

They are often confused, afraid, or ashamed about their own actions. They tend to blame “external factors” or minimize the abuse. He finds that’s often learned from their childhood or the general culture of expectations for the male gender. 

“Usually their template when somebody makes mistakes or makes a bad choice [is] you get beaten up,” he says. “You know, it’s punishment.” 

Augusta-Scott sees his job as getting men to “police themselves” rather than relying on the community to police them. 

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Funding increased since 2020

Augusta-Scott’s Bridges clinic has a waiting list and he says for many of the 30 years he’s been working, funding stayed at the same level. 

But in the last five years, he says the province has put “a lot more funding” into the intervention programs.

Augusta-Scott says it’s significant that some of this new funding can be used to have outreach workers assess men when they enter the Bridges program and connect them with food, housing and employment opportunities. 

He also says while intimate partner violence affects families in all demographic groups, research has shown that poverty and addictions increase the risk. 

“We know that if you expose people to poverty and deprivation and desperation and hopelessness, that spikes violence,” he says. 

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Minister says boost in services ‘on our radar’

Scott Armstrong, the minister of opportunities and social development — formerly community services — says expanding services for men and boys is “definitely on our radar,” although he declined to talk about how much money could be needed. 

He said his department has received several applications from within the metro area and outside that are being reviewed. He stressed that the organizations will not see core funding cut. 

“They’re probably being increased,” he said. “And we’re going to take each and every application we get for expanded services under advisement. And we’re going to give it some serious thought and calculation and do what we can.” 

Armstrong said he plans to visit New Leaf and hopes to “work out a partnership that will expand services in that area.” 

Plans in the works if funding is increased 

Borden says he hasn’t received an answer yet from the province on his proposal.

He says he wants to run group sessions every night of the week and have a therapist who’s able to do one-on-one work with clients. He also wants to go into schools to do education with youth, and into correctional facilities.  

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He doesn’t see a way to make that happen right now.

“And I think now is the time that the government and all the departments need to take this seriously and take a look at what is the root cause,” he said. 

“The root cause of gender-based violence, intimate partner violence, is men.”

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