Little by little, the world is starting to understand the importance of protecting one’s mental health. This necessitates being able to openly talk about mental health problems without fear of being judged, ridiculed, or discriminated against. Filmmaker, creative director, and podcast host Joe Fucarino understands fully well how difficult it is to live with a mental health struggle and not have the right kind of support. As someone who has battled with depression for the most part of his adult life, he knows what it is like to feel alone, not have anyone to talk to, and live in fear that no one will accept his condition. Today, Joe is taking bold steps to advocate for mental health through his podcast Therapy Without a Degree.
Joe Fucarino is also the director of his Therapy Without a Degree web series, where he talks about mental health-related concerns that not many people would be comfortable talking about. He openly shares his personal struggles, hoping that his listeners will draw inspiration from what he went through, from his mother’s addiction to his father’s alcohol abuse. “My entire life, there has been excessive amounts of adversity. I have been bullied in school, grew up with a single mom who was addicted to drugs while living in low-income housing, and have had a father who has been suffering from alcohol abuse. Over time, I suffered from depression for many years,” Joe shared.
Born Joseph Salvatore Fucarino, Joe grew up in Lodi, New Jersey. He was born to parents Philomena Cammisa and Michael Fucarino. He was raised by a single mother in low-income housing, but despite their living conditions, Joe always felt loved. Just like any other family, however, challenges were in abundance, and one of his earliest problems included being bullied repeatedly in school. Some students would spike volleyballs at him during gym class, body shame him incessantly, and even start a fire near his head using a lighter and hairspray. Throughout his high school journey, Joe felt all alone as his closest friends were either in different grades or went to other schools.
Thankfully, that challenging season in his life did not get in the way of his creativity. After school, Joe would make home videos and short films together with his friends and family using a basic camcorder from Kmart. It was clear back then that Joe had the makings of a promising filmmaker. But it came to a point when he had to focus his energy on taking care of his mother, who had struggled with heroin addiction since he was only eight years old. While she was overly supportive of Joe’s talents, her repeated trips to jail sometimes got in the way of what he wanted to do back then.
Later in life, Joe started to battle depression. His experience was not at all easy, and he turned to music, self-assessment, friends, and motivational videos to get back up again. When he started to regain his footing, he realized that a lot of people out there were also going through the same ordeal. Inspired to make a difference, he decided to step out of his comfort zone and created his personal brand called Therapy Without a Degree. Today, the podcast has hundreds of episodes that talk about a wide array of topics, including mental health, personal development, relationships, and sex, among others.
Joe Fucarino and his team organize exciting events to promote their advocacies, from art therapy events to music therapy events, live podcasts, and entrepreneur coaching events. At present, they have successfully established a Facebook group with more than 500 members who openly discuss mental health and practice accountability. Eventually, Therapy Without a Degree started producing its own independent TV show/ web series together with I AM ZAIN STUDIOS. The first episode highlighted how Joe came up with the idea for Therapy Without a Degree. The succeeding ones were about helpful topics that Joe knows will make a lasting impact on the lives of countless people.
