Chris Derksen, Living Free Coordinator and Trainer with Adult and Teen Challenge, spoke briefly at the Morden drug awareness meeting last week about some disturbing statistics.

Derksen said that, of all the admissions coming to the main Adult and Teen Challenge centre in Winnipeg, 40% are from Southern Manitoba.

A new, smaller centre was established in Winkler in February of this year which Derksen oversees to address this issue.

"Our whole goal was to have more of an outreach to the community at large," he said.

"For people who are dealing with addictions and unable to come into our program, we wanted to meet them where they're at."

Part of the mandate for the Winkler centre is to serve the people who have addicts in their lives, children, spouses, friends, etc., and don't know how to help them. Derksen mentioned that these people and what they deal with are often overlooked.

"[This] has almost taken up the majority of my time when I've been out here," said Derksen.

"No parent is given a manual when their child was born, on what to do when that child gets into addiction."

Adult and Teen Challenge in Winkler exists to provide these people, as well as addicts, with the tools necessary on how to navigate those "storms" that come up.