Nanaimo non-profit celebrates a quarter-century of helping and counselling men
Published 2:53 pm Monday, September 14, 2026
A non-profit in Nanaimo will celebrate 25 years of offering service, supports and counselling for men.
The Men’s Centre will be holding a gala Thursday, Sept. 17 at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 256, at 1630 East Wellington Rd., paying tribute to a quarter of a century of service.
The centre, located on 418D Fitzwilliam St. since the beginning, was founded by Theo Boer in response to their estrangement from their spouse and the challenges brought about for equal parenting, according to Mark Busby, a Men’s Centre counsellor.
“The law back then was more apt to award custody to one parent, and shared parenting was something which wasn’t really quite as prominent as it is today,” said Busby. “So Theo’s goal was to create a centre that could support men who were going through similar situations to find support and help to navigate the complex legalities of all of that.”
The centre has evolved over its existence and now focuses more on men’s mental health, with a majority of its clientele on central Vancouver Island.
“Twenty-five years later, what we’re pleased to do is offer much more in the realm of counselling, peer support groups, workshops,” said Busby. “We have a whole range of workshops that can be focused on emotional responsiveness and anger management, and dealing with stressful situations, right through to one-on-one counselling for many different sorts of conditions, ranging from anxiety and depression through to separation and divorce.”
There has been a stigma that males should “be a man” and not show their feelings, but Busby says the centre is working to dispel that.
“That’s something that we chip away at, and that’s one of the things that having a dedicated centre for men is really really good for, is it does help a little bit with that destigmatization,” explained Busby. “Men know they can come here and receive counselling at a place where there are people who are trained in working with men, but more generally, it is, of course, getting better over the years … what I would say is, from our experience here, are a lot of men do seek counselling.” Other services offered are the Boots to Suits program, which provides aid to people securing work, in the form of workwear – work boots, high-visibility vests, work gloves – which people can donate, and its Dealing With The Dragon workshop.
“It runs now on on a quarterly basis and it’s aimed very much at men who want to get a better relationship with their emotions and their anger, and by extension with their partners and co-workers or whatever it might be, so that’s quite a long-running program – there’s lots of alumni that speak highly of it and how it’s helped them,” Busby said.
The 25th anniversary celebration goes from 5:30-8:30 p.m. and there will be entertainment as well, said Linda Stephenson, Men’s Centre executive director.
“We’re going to have a couple of comedians (Elyott Ryan and Peter Hudson) and they’re both local and they’ve given us a break because they care about men’s health,” she said. “We’re going to have (a) silent auction. We’re going to have a 50-50 draw. We’re going to have most of the board there, and the staff will all be volunteering – it’s going to be a beer and a burger for $30.
For tickets, go to www.themenscentre.ca/25th-anniversary-gala.
karl.yu@nanaimobulletin.com