It began as a ward in the former St. Joseph鈥檚 Hospital building in Comox, and is now a permanent fixture on 4th Street in Courtenay as a resource centre for adults with persistent mental health issues.

The Eureka Support Society鈥檚 new executive director, Troy Dunham, is the next guest on The Record鈥檚 Off The Page podcast set to be released April 27.

Dunham says people can access their services for mental health primarily through referrals, but his goal is to bridge gaps in services, relationships and communications so that people are able to access the supports they need.

鈥淲e all know 鈥� at least if we鈥檝e experienced the last two years 鈥� that mental health is an important aspect of life, what once was almost taboo to even mention has become sort of forefront of conversation in the community,鈥� he explained.

鈥淚 think in the discussion around mental health it鈥檚 still one of those aspects of life that people are a little bit afraid to speak about鈥� even in my own experience being in a position where I can talk about mental health, I was still hesitant to talk about my own experience with mental illness and having my own diagnosis and being on medications myself and those types of things. And it鈥檚 a scary prospect when you don鈥檛 know what kind of response you鈥檙e going to get. I think it鈥檚 less scary now. But we鈥檙e really just starting to scratch the surface.鈥�

Dunham talks about the impact of the pandemic on mental health, and how the situation created the 鈥減erfect storm鈥� with higher recorded rates of depression and anxiety in certain age groups. He notes there has been a gap in services for some time, but it has become more pronounced within the past few years.

He believes that鈥檚 where Eureka can help 鈥� he envisions the organization finding ways to support the larger community by making connections and closing the gap for services.

As for where he sees Eureka within the next six months to a year? You鈥檒l have to listen to the podcast to find out.

To listen to the full episode, download Off The Page on, and everywhere podcasts are heard, or visit . New episodes of Off The Page drop every Wednesday.

To submit podcast topics or guest ideas, email offthepage@comoxvalleyrecord.com.