Nanaimo non-profit celebrates a quarter-century of helping and counselling men<\/p>\n
Published 2:53 pm Monday, September 14, 2026<\/p>\n
A non-profit in Nanaimo will celebrate 25 years of offering service, supports and counselling for men.<\/p>\n
The Men\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s Centre counsellor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe law back then was more apt to award custody to one parent, and shared parenting was something which wasn\u2019t really quite as prominent as it is today,\u201d said Busby. \u201cSo Theo\u2019s 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.\u201d <\/p>\n
The centre has evolved over its existence and now focuses more on men\u2019s mental health, with a majority of its clientele on central Vancouver Island.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty-five years later, what we\u2019re pleased to do is offer much more in the realm of counselling, peer support groups, workshops,\u201d said Busby. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
There has been a stigma that males should \u201cbe a man\u201d and not show their feelings, but Busby says the centre is working to dispel that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s something that we chip away at, and that\u2019s 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,\u201d explained Busby. \u201cMen 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 \u2026 what I would say is, from our experience here, are a lot of men do seek counselling.\u201d Other services offered are the Boots to Suits program, which provides aid to people securing work, in the form of workwear \u2013 work boots, high-visibility vests, work gloves \u2013 which people can donate, and its Dealing With The Dragon workshop.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt runs now on on a quarterly basis and it\u2019s 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\u2019s quite a long-running program \u2013 there\u2019s lots of alumni that speak highly of it and how it\u2019s helped them,\u201d Busby said.<\/p>\n
The 25th anniversary celebration goes from 5:30-8:30 p.m. and there will be entertainment as well, said Linda Stephenson, Men\u2019s Centre executive director.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to have a couple of comedians (Elyott Ryan and Peter Hudson) and they\u2019re both local and they\u2019ve given us a break because they care about men\u2019s health,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have (a) silent auction. We\u2019re going to have a 50-50 draw. We\u2019re going to have most of the board there, and the staff will all be volunteering \u2013 it\u2019s going to be a beer and a burger for $30.<\/p>\n