Frequently Asked Questions about the Closure of the Asian Initiative in Mental Health (AIM)

Updated August 15, 2025

1. What was the Asian Initiative in Mental Health (AIM) and why was it important?
   Founded in 2002 by Dr. Kenneth Fung and Dr. Peter Lim, AIM was Canada’s first program specifically designed to provide culturally and linguistically adapted mental health care for Asian communities, especially Chinese Canadians, in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The program delivered psychiatric assessments, medication management, individual psychotherapy, and culturally tailored group programs in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English, led by a multidisciplinary team that included psychiatrists, mental health clinicians, and support staff. AIM was also a national and international leader in cultural psychiatry, offering training to medical students, residents, and fellows, conducting innovative research, and working closely with community organizations to address the service gaps that result from language and cultural barriers. Its services were instrumental to improve recovery outcomes, reduce involuntary hospitalizations, and increase patient engagement with care.
   
   
2. Did AIM really “close” or was it simply merged into another service?
   UHN has stated that AIM was “merged” into its broader Outpatient Mental Health and Addictions Service (OMHAS) as part of a planned integration with no interruption of patient care. However, in practice, the specialized clinic, dedicated team, and culturally adapted care pathways that defined AIM ended abruptly on June 18, 2025. The transition occurred without prior consultation with patients, families, community partners, or AIM staff, and four of AIM’s seven clinicians were laid off. Group programs such as Journey to Healing and Integrative Behavioral Group Therapy were disrupted by an abrupt change in facilitator causing anxiety and confusion in patients and community partners. Similarly, vulnerable patients who were undergoing individual psychotherapy by clinicians who were laid off experienced an abrupt change with no prior explanation and no chance to work through proper termination sessions or transfer of care sessions with their clinician, which is potentially traumatic and not the standard of care. While UHN notes that culturally specific care has continued with existing psychiatrists and clinicians through OMHAS, including through interpreter support, the removal of a dedicated, culturally and linguistically matched care environment has significantly altered how the service is experienced by patients. To this day, patients continue to express surprise about the dissolution as they have not been notified. Most of them learned through Chinese media initiated by the Coalition and many experienced this sudden assault on the clinic as a racist act, regardless of UHN’s official placating explanation in the English media. It is irrefutable that there is an erosion of an established culturally specific and culturally safe service trusted by the underserved patients and communities.
   
   
3. What mental health gaps did AIM address that are now at risk?
   Chinese Canadians in Ontario report some of the weakest sense of belonging, the lowest self-rated mental health, and the highest levels of unmet mental health needs compared to all other ethnic groups. They also have the lowest use of mental health services, and research shows they experience higher rates of involuntary psychiatric admission and more severe symptoms at presentation.
   These outcomes are linked to systemic issues — such as lack of culturally safe and competent care, language barriers, and stigma — that discourage early help-seeking and contribute to delayed diagnosis and treatment. AIM addressed these gaps by providing language-concordant services, integrating cultural understanding into diagnosis and treatment, and creating safe, trusted spaces that supported recovery and reduced the need for emergency or crisis-based care, or admission to hospital again.
   While UHN has stated that Cantonese- and Mandarin-speaking clinicians remain available and that interpretation services can be used when needed, the Coalition notes that translation alone does not replace the comprehensive, culturally grounded care model AIM as a cohesive team provided.
   
4. How did AIM serve the community?
   AIM delivered approximately 4,500 patient visits each year, serving around 1,000 unique patients, including 250 new referrals annually. Roughly 75% of these new patients came from outside UHN’s official geographic catchment, underscoring the program’s role as a regional — rather than purely local — resource. AIM’s clinical offerings included urgent psychiatric assessments (often within a week of hospital discharge), an Early Intervention in Psychosis program with cultural adaptations for immigrant populations, and monthly drop-in wellness groups for chronic or recently discharged patients. Group programs like Journey to Healing integrated psychoeducation with traditional practices such as qi-gong and naturopathy, while the Integrative Behavioral Group Therapy program blended Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and mindfulness-based strategies, delivered in Cantonese, Mandarin, and Portuguese in partnership with community agencies such as Hong Fook and Abrigo.
   
   
5. What has happened to AIM’s patients after the closure?
   For the first few weeks after AIM’s closure, there was no public announcement. Many patients have reported that they were not informed of their clinicians’ departure or change until their follow up appointments. Patients already in care at AIM will be followed only until their current “episode of care” ends, with no assurance of long-term follow-up. New referrals are now restricted to individuals living within UHN’s geographic catchment area — a policy that excludes roughly three-quarters of AIM’s former intake. AIM’s culturally adapted Early Intervention in Psychosis program has been transferred to CAMH. The Coalition remains concerned about whether the relocated Early Intervention in Psychosis program at CAMH’s program has the necessary Chinese-speaking clinicians and cultural adaptations to meet the needs of transferred patients and whether there are plans to ensure that the referral pathways for new cases from the Chinese community is intact. Initially, the new policy was to exclude new Chinese Canadian patients outside Toronto Western Hospital’s catchment area due to existing restrictions of OMHAS, reiterated in two separate meetings with the community. After wide-spread media attention, UHN released a statement on August 1, 2025 , stating that new referrals outside the catchment area will continue to be accepted. The statement also claimed that all existing AIM patients have continued receiving care without interruption, with individualized transition plans and meet-and-greet appointments with new providers where needed. This glosses over vulnerable patients’ actual experience, many of whom have experienced systemic barriers to care due to culture and language. Based on those who have contacted the Coalition, even though their care has continued, they are shocked, anxious, and hurt to learn that AIM has been dismantled.
   
   
6. Why is this closure considered harmful to equity and inclusion?
   Even with UHN’s assurances that language-specific care remains, the Coalition views the closure of AIM as the loss of a rare, dedicated, culturally specific, and highly valued clinic that was created to address health disparities and served as a trusted bridge between the healthcare system and Chinese communities. The decision was made without prior consultation with patients, families, or community partners, undermining principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion. There is no clear strategy to ensure that referral pathways of new patients from the Chinese community are intact, as the identity of the AIM clinic has been removed from the website and referral forms.For many in the Chinese Canadian community, it reinforces the “perpetual foreigner” stereotype — the notion that our needs can be deprioritized. In the current climate of rising anti-Asian racism and backlash against DEI initiatives, this is particularly troubling.
   
7. What is the RE-AIM Coalition and what does it want?
   In response to AIM’s closure, a coalition of healthcare providers, community leaders, patient advocates, equity and inclusion advocates, donors, and academics formed the RE-AIM Coalition (Resilience and Empowerment in Asian Integrative Mental Health). The coalition’s goals are to:
   • Secure an immediate meeting with UHN leadership;
   • Restore AIM in full; and
   • Establish a cross-sector consultation forum to plan for culturally safe, community-linked psychiatric and mental health care for Chinese, Portuguese, and other racialized communities.
     On July 15, 2025, five prominent Chinese Canadian leaders wrote to UHN’s CEO requesting dialogue.
     
     
8. How does this affect training for future mental health professionals?
   AIM was not only a clinical service but also a training ground for future culturally competent clinicians and a hub for research. It  was a rare and vital teaching site in cultural psychiatry, offering placements for psychiatry residents, fellows, and other trainees to develop skills in culturally and linguistically adapted care. It also hosted the ACT and Buddhism Fellowship in collaboration with the Buddhist Education Foundation for Canada. The closure eliminates these unique training opportunities, reducing the pipeline of future clinicians equipped to serve diverse populations and weakening the health system’s capacity to provide equitable mental health services.
   
   
9. What reforms are being proposed to improve culturally adapted care?
   The RE-AIM Coalition has outlined several recommendations:
   • Establishing the RE-AIM Centre — Resilience and Empowerment in Asian Integrative Mental Health — as a new centre of excellence in cultural mental health.
   • Collaborating with medical schools and teaching hospitals, including the University of Toronto and others, to rebuild an integrated platform for clinical care, education, and research in cultural psychiatry.
   • Expanding the scope of services to serve not only Chinese communities but also other Asian populations, immigrants, refugees, and other marginalized groups.
   • Integrating traditional and modern therapies, combining psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, mindfulness, lifestyle medicine, and Asian philosophies into a holistic model of care.
   • Strengthening community participation, creating cross-sector collaboration platforms that ensure community members have a strong role in planning, evaluation, and research.
     These reforms aim to create a more responsive and inclusive mental health system that meets the needs of Ontario’s diverse communities.
     
     
10. How can the public support the restoration of AIM?
    Members of the public can support the RE-AIM Coalition by:
    • Staying informed through credible sources;
    • Sharing verified information within their networks;
    • Signing petitions advocating for AIM’s reinstatement;
    • Contacting elected officials to voice support for culturally safe mental health care; and
    • Participating in community events or forums that raise awareness of the issue.