For more than 40 years, HF Care, formerly known as Hong Fook Mental Health Association, has provided culturally rooted mental health care for East and Southeast Asian communities across the Greater Toronto Area. Through clinical services, mental health education, and Canada’s first Culturally Competent Recovery College, the HF Way of Care centres culture, language, and lived experience, while grounding every service in the belief that recovery is possible.

At HF Care, care is more than a service. It is a place for hope.

Every year, HF Care welcomes over 4,000 individuals into their space. The true heart of their impact lives in personal stories like Kitty Wong’s. 

Growing up in a family of five sisters, some of Kitty’s happiest memories took place around a dim sum table. Her family was close and fiercely protective of one another. 

Kitty was the quiet, shy sister, and her family always looked after her with a little extra care.

Before every meal started, her mom would place a char siu bao onto her plate. Looking back, Kitty realizes it was her mother’s quiet way of saying, “You are loved. You belong here.”

Years later, after immigrating to Canada and building a career in accounting, Kitty slowly began experiencing frightening hallucinations and hearing voices. Eventually, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Although she sought medical care, the symptoms continued to worsen. The voices convinced her she couldn’t trust anyone, even the people who loved her most. Afraid of putting her family in danger, she kept what she was experiencing to herself.

Family gatherings that once brought comfort became overwhelming. Eventually, Kitty left her job and withdrew almost completely from the world around her.

Through it all, one person remained quietly beside her.

Every morning, Kitty’s mother would encourage her to drink a glass of milk before gently asking if she’d like to go for a walk. Sometimes Kitty had the strength. Sometimes she didn’t. But her mother’s patience never wavered.

In 2016, following the unexpected death of her mother, Kitty experienced a severe mental health crisis. She was taken to the hospital and admitted for psychiatric care.

This was when she was referred to HF Care.

With the support of a new psychiatrist, a dedicated social worker, and HF Care’s Culturally-Competent Recovery College, Kitty gradually rebuilt her life. 

A Cantonese-speaking peer support group introduced her to others who understood what living with schizophrenia truly felt like.

“For 17 years, I thought I was completely alone,” Kitty recalls. “For the first time, I realized I wasn’t.”

As her confidence grew, HF Care encouraged Kitty to become a peer facilitator herself. Over the years, she has found the courage to speak openly about her illness, helping others navigate their own recovery. 

Today, she volunteers at the front desk and facilitates peer support programs, welcoming newcomers with the same openness and compassion that once welcomed her.

Reflecting on her journey today, Kitty says the support she found at HF Care gave her the confidence to rebuild her life, one small step at a time.

“Even though both of my parents are gone and I live alone, I still feel their presence with me every day. I go step by step, sweeping the floor and cooking my meals, just like my mom showed me. And when I’m at dim sum with my sisters, I put the char siu bao on my own plate now.”

Find more about HF Care here.

Kitty with her family.