On May 6, HF Care officially launched its Culturally Responsive Mental Health Pathways for Asian Youth in the Greater Toronto Area initiative at North York Memorial Community Hall, bringing together more than 80 community partners, researchers, service providers, and leaders committed to improving mental health support for Asian youth and families across the GTA.
In his opening remarks, HF Care President & CEO Andrew Chung reflected on why the initiative matters so deeply for Asian communities:
“This is only the beginning. We are not just building a program; we are creating a system of trust. By working with our partners, we ensure that Asian young people and their families see themselves reflected in the care they receive.”
Supported through Health Canada’s Youth Mental Health Fund (YMHF), the initiative marks HF Care as the only agency in the country to receive funding specifically designated for Asian youth mental health.
Backed by approximately $1.9 million in funding from 2026–2029, the support from YMHF allow us to strengthen pathways to culturally appropriate mental health care for Asian youth and families while building stronger connections across the broader youth mental health system.
Creating Pathways to Care Through “Trust Brokers“
A central focus of the event was HF Care’s network of “trust brokers” — community organizations with longstanding relationships and credibility within Asian communities.
Partners including Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter (CCNCTO), ACAS (Asian Community AIDS Services), VWAT Family Services, and the Kababayan Multicultural Centre will help connect youth and families to mental health support in spaces where trust already exists.
Throughout the launch, speakers emphasized that many Asian youth do not initially seek help through formal mental health systems. Instead, conversations about mental health often first happen within community spaces, cultural organizations, settlement agencies, or among trusted peers and mentors.
Kennes Lin, HF Care’s VP of Service Excellence & Systems Strategy, shared that culturally responsive care means understanding the realities youth are navigating, such as family expectations, identity, stigma, and silence around mental health:
“When Asian youth feel understood in the fullness of who they are, care doesn’t just reach them — it starts to work.”
While HF Care provides specialized mental health services, organizations like CCNCTO help create the trusted relationships and spaces of belonging that make seeking support feel possible in the first place. Eleanor from CCNCTO reflected on the role trust brokers will need to play in helping youth access support earlier and more comfortably:
“We are an entrypoint for youth. We offer spaces where they can find community, talk about common experiences like anxiety and depression, and feel empowered to make change in their communities. From there, we can bridge them over to HF Care’s youth mental health program offerings.”
Representatives from Kababayan Multicultural Centre and ACAS also reflected on why collaboration between community organizations and mental health providers is so important, especially for newcomer youth and international students. Justin Anantawan from ACAS highlighted how partnerships like these help organizationsbetter support youth and families who may otherwise fall through the cracks:
“If people feel they’re going to be judged, they hide. They don’t seek the help they need. That’s where partnerships with organizations like ours, where youth already feel understood and cared for, can make a big difference.”
From Community Support to Systems Change
The launch also brought together leaders from across the mental health, research, and public sectors, reflecting the growing recognition that culturally responsive mental health support must become a larger part of how youth services are designed and delivered across Canada.
Among those in attendance were Don Valley North Councillor Shelley Carroll, alongside video remarks from Ontario Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Vijay Thanigasalam, who emphasized the importance of building mental health systems that better reflect the lived realities of diverse communities.
Maggie Chi, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, described the initiative as part of a broader shift toward mental health systems that better reflect the communities they serve:
“Through investments from the Youth Mental Health Fund, youth and their families from Asian communities in Don Valley North and across the country are gaining access to mental health supports in ways that help them feel seen, heard and supported.”
The event closed with reflections from Dr. Lin Fang, Professor and Factor-Inwentash Chair in Children’s Mental Health at the University of Toronto, who described the initiative as part of a larger movement toward long-term systems change shaped through collaboration between communities, researchers, and service providers.
As partners across sectors begin building this work together in the years ahead, speakers throughout the afternoon returned to a shared idea: meaningful mental health support cannot be built by any one organization alone.
Jennifer Holmes Weier, CEO of Addictions and Mental Health Ontario (AMHO), reflected on the broader significance initiatives like this can have across the mental health system:
“Today, your announcement is about building new pathways. Pathways that are shaped by and for the communities they are designed to serve. …through this program, HF Care is showing us what’s possible when we trust communities to lead and when we work together.”
If you or a young person in your life is looking for support, mental health resources, or community programming, visit HF Care’s Youth & Family Resources Page, or explore upcoming programs and workshops through our HF Care Youth & Family Programming Calendar.
For partnership inquiries or to learn more about the initiative, please contact Sunny Wang, Director of External Relations at HF Care, at sunny.wang@hfcare.ca or 647-248-4071.
