The Canadian Mental Health Association's Central Region's Executive Director gave a presentation at this weeks Portage la Prairie Rotary Lunch.

Jordan Friesen explains he wanted to open up about the brand and image of CMHA.

"The perception of the community that CMHA serves individuals that might be marginalized, or might have substance use issues, or might be homeless, but what I really want to say is that there are a lot of people in Portage la Prairie that have mental health issues and the CMHA can provide services to all of those people. Not just to those that might be considered marginalized, but our aim is to promote mentally healthy lives for every body."

Friesen discusses how they deal with that struggle.

"Well it's certainly our biggest challenge that we don't want to be boxed into a niche. We've been doing what we've been doing for a long time, and now that mental health is something that people are more willing to talk about I think it's time to expand who we're able to provide services to as seeking mental health services becomes more acceptable."

He discusses some of the questions brought forth during the lunch.

"We had some questions around our housing, and in particular questions about housing and substance use. My answer around those issues is that we know that housing is the key to recovering from a lot of different issues, specifically related to mental health. Our goal is to provide good, quality, affordable housing to every body that needs it, regardless of what issues they're dealing with."

He adds there's a lot of people in Portage la Prairie suffering from mental health issues, and they'll continue to help as many people as they can.