In 2021, Jayden Friesen’s severe drug addiction took a dark turn. He had returned to his apartment after buying fentanyl, and proceeded to smoke a large amount.
No one checked on him until the next morning. By then, Friesen had been in an overdose state for 13 hours. Friends rushed him to hospital where he woke up the next day. While he was unconscious, his heart had almost stopped, he had two strokes and his liver and kidneys had shut down.
Doctors told him had it been a half hour longer, he would have died. During the pandemic, the rate of deaths in Canada due to opioid toxicity increased by 91 per cent over the years 2020-22 and in 2020, overdose deaths in Manitoba spiked 87 per cent, according to Manitoba’s chief medical examiner.
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“It was a miracle by the Grace of God that I survived that.”
It was then he began his journey to recovery. Friesen had been in and out of treatment programs and had sobered up numerous times but it was his parents, who had been trying to help him, who convinced him to give Adult & Teen Challenge of Central Canada (ATCCC) a try.
Once he was strong enough to leave the hospital, Friesen, with the help and support of his family, was accepted into the organization’s Long-Term Program and began the work of healing.
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“Things just started changing at that point. I was filled with life and love and hope again. I could see it around me with the guys in the program this peace and this joy that I was longing for and looking for this whole time even before the drugs.”
Friesen’s story is one of many from ATCCC in which lives have been transformed and clients have been freed from addictions, says Daniel Emond, the organization’s CEO.
“What I love about what we do is that it works.” Graduates of the long-term program have a 78 per cent success rate in overcoming addiction. It is estimated that 21 per cent of the Canadian population will meet the criteria for addiction in their lifetime.
“I see miracles every day. You can get very discouraged and depressed real quick if you look at the world view on things and what’s happening. We see hope, we teach hope, we experience hope,” says Emond.
The organization offers numerous types of holistic addiction recovery programs. Along with the live-in program for men and women 18 and over, ATCCC offers numerous outpatient, evidence-based rehab programs featuring a faith-based approach across Manitoba and northern Ontario.
Emond says the organization is proud of its Christian-rooted philosophy, because he has seen its effectiveness in helping people rid themselves of addiction, and he was also a client.
“I know firsthand how desperate I was, and I tried everything. There was good things happening in my life, but I still had this addiction that would not let go. That’s where we have our greater success—when someone finds their saviour and then dedicates their lives to that moral compass, that spiritual life.”
2023 marks ATCCC’s 28th year. It has grown from a small building in Hadashville, Man., to its current six community offices across the province, and six long-term program facilities along with its SuperThrift stores which provide much-needed vocational experience for long-term clients.
And ATCCC continues to expand in 2023, with a Ready Now Recovery outpatient program launching in Swan River, Man., and renovations nearly completed on an outpatient office in Flin Flon, says Emond. He says a new SuperThrift store is set to open this summer in Steinbach, Man.
And, Adult & Teen Challenge runs its programs without government support. Over fifty per cent of ATCCC funds come from its five SuperThrift store locations (many in the long-term program are employed there, along with other work locations such as vocational shops). People can also donate directly via monthly support. A total of 91 per cent of donations go directly to programming.
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The long-term program follows a strict routine, with students busy from morning until night with academic studies, individual and group mentoring along with counselling and on-the-job training and employable skills certification.
“Over the year, it was a total journey, but I just needed strength to do it. I just grew through the program and doing the work,” says Friesen, who is now a proud graduate of the long-term program and who is currently enrolled in the 18-month SURGE intensive leadership training program.
Notes Emond: “We have what we call stages of freedom. We offer a continuum of services from the first point of contact to five years after recovery. We cover the whole continuum of when a family finds freedom from addictions.”
Friesen says his parents also found strength in ATCCC, joining a family support group in their local town of Steinbach and going through the nine-week Concerned Persons group study which was created to help family and friends deal with the challenges of a loved one struggling with addiction. ATCCC supported 17 family groups in 2021 and was a first point of contact for 269 families. A recent report found fentanyl patients in Manitoba come from all backgrounds.
“It helped them to vent and connect with other families,” says Friesen. “They were hurting so bad and now they know they were not alone.”
He’s rebuilt his relationship with his family, siblings and new baby niece. “The biggest thing is I asked them to forgive me. I feel lighter. I now have a lot of joy,” he says.
If you would like to learn more about the programs offered by Adult and Teen Challenge or would like to donate, please visit here.
