{"id":611130,"date":"2026-04-17T22:39:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T22:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/611130\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T22:39:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T22:39:15","slug":"new-centre-looks-to-expand-support-for-manitoba-sexual-assault-survivors-winnipeg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/611130\/","title":{"rendered":"New centre looks to expand support for Manitoba sexual assault survivors – Winnipeg"},"content":{"rendered":"

The rooms are empty save for a few tables and chairs. The walls are patched and waiting for a fresh coat of paint. But soon, Survivor\u2019s Hope Crisis Centre\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0new space in Selkirk, Man., will welcome clients from the area for support and healing.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWith renovations beginning soon, we plan to be open summer 2026,\u201d co-executive director Gillian Schofield told Global News.<\/p>\n

The office in Selkirk\u2019s core features rooms for counselling appointments and will have resources available for the community. The new space will allow Survivor\u2019s Hope to increase the number of staff and reach more survivors of sexual violence in the Interlake.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere still absolutely isn\u2019t a lot of resources in rural areas,\u201d co-executive director Coral Kendel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that there is an impact to someone having to leave their home community to seek services \u2014 even in Winnipeg \u2014 whether that\u2019s medical services, or whether that\u2019s to access the court\u2019s offices.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Survivor\u2019s Hope Crisis Centre has operated out of Pinawa, Man., since 2003. Staff travel across the Interlake to deliver educational workshops, provide counselling and support survivors when they present at hospitals and RCMP detachments.<\/p>\n

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Amber Dreger began volunteering with the Centre\u2019s Sexual Assault Recovery and Healing (SARAH) program last year, driving to hospitals in the west Interlake area to meet survivors and advocate on their behalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cI let them know that they can tell me as little or as much about why they\u2019re there or what happened,\u201d she said. \u201cMost people just want someone there with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI say, \u2018Look, if you are scared to ask for XYZ, let me do that. Let me take the brunt. I am happy to go and get you another blanket or a glass of water or ask how long this is going to take, or what\u2019s the plan after.’\u201d<\/p>\n

SARAH and Sexual Assault Discussion Initiative (SADI) co-ordinator Natasha van Dorp leads workshops on consent, mental health and healthy relationships in Interlake schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just so fantastic to watch them use what they\u2019ve been taught and be able to openly talk about their feelings and what they need,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are getting our voice out there and we\u2019re talking more about these things that have been kind of in the shadows for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Once someone connects with Survivor\u2019s Hope, they can receive short-term counselling.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight away, we want to fix, but sometimes it\u2019s just having that five minutes and listening to somebody tell you and going, \u2018Oh, OK, I believe you. You\u2019re not alone in this,’\u201d Survivor\u2019s Hope short-term counsellor Chantal Shibata said.<\/p>\n

Manitoba RCMP responded to 814 reports of sexual assault in 2023, and 816 in both 2024 and 2025. According to Statistics Canada, only six per cent of sexual assaults are reported to law enforcement.<\/p>\n

Survivor\u2019s Hope responded to 51 calls in 2024 and 259 calls in 2025, an increase Kendel attributes in part to more awareness of the available resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big part of our job is wanting to work ourselves out of a job,\u201d she said. \u201cWe hope that one day jobs like ours are no longer necessary, but in the meantime, the prevention work is such a key part of our work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the ultimate goal, right, is prevention and reduction of future harms,\u201d Schofield said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The rooms are empty save for a few tables and chairs. The walls are patched and waiting for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,920,7739,230197,22073],"class_list":["post-611130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-rcmp","tag-sexual-assault","tag-survivors-hope-crisis-centre","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}