“Its common sense…why aren’t we getting taught this in school?!” - Warwick
THE FOUNDATIONS
Nick Sutherland first started ‘State of Mind’ in 2009, working from a home office in Mount Martha on the Mornington Peninsula, specialising in helping people to heal and overcome trauma in order to find peace and happiness.
Whilst he enjoyed this work, Nick started to see patterns in that much of his clients ‘suffering’ was connected to how they processed experiences and ultimately, how they perceived the world.
The patterns also highlighted how the symptomatic problems clients presented with kept stemming from the same 5 core issues. This wasn’t in just 1 or 2 clients, but hundreds.
With this in mind, Nick started building a therapeutic framework based on the methodology of the “5 Fundamental Principles” as he called them, creating 2 programs that varied in length but both used the same methodology.
2 main barriers to clients getting help also became apparent:
They were tired of telling the same story to therapists, and
They were cynical to some degree because there was no timeframe on how long or how many sessions they would need
A NEW APPROACH
In 2018, Nick decided to start working in a more proactive manner so changed his business model and rebranded as ‘MyndFit’.
The purpose of MyndFit was to shift away from traditional therapy and move into a more educational system, teaching clients the tools, resources strategies required to create and maintain happiness and health.
With this new approach, Nick created a new purpose, and helping clients learn to take responsibility for their happiness because the focus. The reason for this was that Nick found what he considered to be a lot of ‘unnecessary suffering’ happening so it made sense to him to start there.
Nick no longer wanted to simply “talk” about peoples problems and help them to cope with whatever life was putting before them…he now wanted to create a shift in the way they approached life. It was going to take much more effort, but it was important to him to start working more with the client than for them as he felt this was disempowering them.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF CLIENT
After launching MyndFit, a new type of client started knocking on the door, one more looking at “personal development” rather than just therapy. Although these clients did need help to overcome past experiences, they were doing so because they wanted to break old habits and patterns in order to create a new normal. They wanted to evolve.
At the same time as MyndFit was being launched, a partnership with Queensland based social enterprise TradeMutt was formed.
Ed Ross, Nick Sutherland and Dan Allen
Daniel Allen and his mate Ed Ross were a couple of carpenters in Brisbane who had lost a mutual friend to suicide, so they decided to create a purpose for the loss. The guys launched TradeMutt with the purpose of getting guys in the trade industry to start conversations around mens mental health, something very close to Nicks heart.
Nick spoke to Dan and Ed about doing more than just creating awareness of how many men were taking their lives, and how they had a great opportunity to effect real change.
Soon enough TradeMutt were creating awareness through their loud work shirts and MyndFit was bringing the tools a lot of the tradies were missing. The boys hit the road and started speaking at functions, trade colleges and to businesses in the trade industry about how there was now an alternative to suicide.
As a result, Nicks client base started shifting to the point where more men than women were coming through the door. Although he still worked with women, Nick was now seen to specialise in helping men around the age of 40 to find a healthier balance and to become better within themselves so they could be better in all the roles they played in life.
GOING GLOBAL
Chiva Som, a luxury 5 Star health resort in Hua Hin, Thailand.