However, if a program isn't beginning at the time, it may be complicated to get the teen involved. John Smith seems to be one of the kids who has fallen through that gap. His mother desperately wants to find him help, even while she's trying to look after his younger brother. Whitehorse residents would be surprised at how many teens actually have nowhere to go, she says. It gets so hard sometimes.
Some parents just give up.
But I'm not prepared to give up. Smith says she would volunteer her time at the centre and believes many others would as well. These kids need out help. They need a place to go. For one split-second, lounging in a steamy sauna while whipping myself with a switch of leafy birch branches, I was sure I was in Russia.