Vancouver Island Mental Health Society - VIMHS

06/14/2026

Happy Pride Nanaimo! Nanaimo Pride Society City of Nanaimo 🌈🌈
Thanks to staff, residents, family and friends for celebrating Pride with us!!

05/25/2026

"The Salvation Army New Hope Centre’s new four-storey modular building at 19 Nicol St. in downtown is nearing completion.
Bern Muller, the centre’s executive director, said he expects work on the addition to the NHC is expected to be finished by the end of May, and it should be opened in early June.
He said the building will help bolster the centre’s ability to work with the area’s many unhoused people.
“The new addition will add 34 shelter beds to the 34 we already have, and that’s on top of the 20 transitional beds that we have as well,” he enthusiastically said."
[read the rest of the article online at: nanaimo bulletin . com]

05/24/2026

When it opened in 1921, the Weyburn Mental Hospital was hailed as the last and largest asylum in the British Commonwealth. Managing Madness co-author Erika Dyck writes that in the beginning, it was a symbol of both progress and a bygone era, embodying a set of contradictions from the outset.

Dyck is a Canada Research Chair in the History of Health and Social Justice, and a history professor at the University of Saskatchewan. She spoke with the program about the history of the mental hospital in Weyburn, which was demolished in 2009.

Included in the conversation are the institution’s early decades, Tommy Douglas’ Weyburn connection, forays into psychedelic assisted therapy in the 1950s, and eventual de-institutionalization.

Listen here:
https://vancouverislandmentalhealthsociety.org/podcast/exploring-the-history-of-a-saskatchewan-mental-hospital/

Vancouver Island Mental Health Society - VIMHS

05/22/2026

"A new vehicle is transforming the way the Harbour City’s Salvation Army branch is working in the community.
After using a makeshift and renovated refrigeration truck for several years, the Nanaimo Salvation Army is moving forward with its daily hot breakfast program inside a specialized emergency response style food truck, designed to prep, cook, store, and serve meals to those in need.
Executive director Bern Muller told NanaimoNewsNOW the vehicle is now in operation, allowing for 65 meals to be produced and handed out in a variety of strategic locations five days a week.
“Being able to serve more meals, to be able to deliver meals in better conditions with refrigeration on board, with three sinks on board, even the capacity to be able to cook if we need to. That vehicle will be able to support the community, as well as there may be need, we’re able to respond.”"
[read the rest of this article online at: nanaimo news now . com] Salvation Army Church Nanaimo

05/20/2026

The Scramblers climbed Seymour Hill today. 👍
PC: Christine Gotzman

05/20/2026

05/20/2026

Join our free 90-minute educational session on June 4 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. PDT to hear about the impacts of systemic discrimination and who it affects. By the end of the session, you will be able to identify at least one example of systemic discrimination, understand why action is needed and use an action-planning tool to support next steps.

For more information, visit: https://bchumanrights.ca/news-and-events/events/event/systemic-discrimination-part-two-jun-4/

05/20/2026

We’re incredibly grateful to Wire Service for featuring the growing impact of our Rural Minds Matter Peer Support Training program. 💚

As demand for accessible mental health support continues to rise across Canada, we remain committed to empowering rural communities with stigma-free conversations, peer support skills, and hope. Thank you to everyone helping us create safer, more compassionate spaces for mental wellness. 🌾

Read the feature here: https://www.wireservice.ca/stigma-free-mental-health-society-expands-rural-peer-support-training-as-demand-grows-across-canada/