By Aseefa Sarang, Executive Director of Across Boundaries
This year, Across Boundaries marks 30 years.
Thirty years of centering justice, anti-racism, anti-oppression and lived experience in mental health.
Thirty years of delivering care that affirms every part of who people are.
Thirty years of insisting: our communities deserve more.
Founded in 1995, Across Boundaries emerged in response to a mental health system that excluded, pathologized, and harmed racialized people—especially Black communities. From the beginning, our approach has been rooted in a simple truth: care must be radically different to be effective.
Our early work focused on increasing access to mental health support that acknowledged trauma, racism, and migration—realities often ignored by mainstream systems. As systemic issues like poverty, housing insecurity, and justice involvement deepened, so too did the complexity of our communities’ needs.
But we weren’t just building access—we were building a new model. One that honours identity. Challenges systemic violence. Reflects the strength and complexity of the people we serve.
That work continues—and it’s more urgent than ever.
Reimagining Care, Reshaping Systems
Across Boundaries doesn’t just provide mental health services—we reimagine care, by and for Black and racialized people, free of fear and judgment.
A defining example of this was our participation in the At Home/Chez Soi Housing First study, focused on Black and racialized adults experiencing homelessness and mental illness. The results were clear: 75% of participants in our culturally adapted programs remained stably housed over two years—compared to 41% in the standard model. That 34% difference wasn’t just a number—it was proof that justice-based care works. It transforms individuals and shifts entire systems.
We’ve always made space for truths the system prefers to ignore. After the 2015 police killing of Andrew Loku, we helped ensure anti-Black racism remained central to the public conversation and we continue to demand accountability and systemic change to this day. During the pandemic, when survival was on the line, we delivered over 11,000 meals and distributed 300 phones—because in that moment, mental health meant food, access, and dignity.
Redefining Mental Health
We’re not just a voice in culturally appropriate care—we deliver care rooted in anti-oppression, challenging systemic barriers in housing, justice, education, employment, and beyond.
That begins with redefining mental health itself.
At Across Boundaries, trauma, poverty, racism, migration, and gender-based violence aren’t “background factors”—they’re central to how mental health is experienced. We offer a space where people can bring their full selves—including their experiences with anti-Black racism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, and other forms of systemic violence—without fear of being dismissed or silenced.
This work remains essential. Despite decades of progress, systemic harm continues—often with devastating consequences for the communities we serve.
Every Layer of Care Matters
What people see—group therapy, yoga sessions, art programs—is just the surface. Beneath that is the everyday work that makes healing possible: helping someone with immigration paperwork, checking in after hours, making warm referrals so no one is left behind.
At the core of this care are our staff—racialized healers, case workers, and community leaders who bring both expertise and lived experience. Their courage and commitment fuel transformation.
Over the years, we haven’t just seen recovery—we’ve seen people rise. Service users have become authors, facilitators, and advocates. They’ve reclaimed power, rebuilt wellness, and created lives grounded in dignity and hope.
Meeting the Moment—and the Future
As we look ahead, we’re not just maintaining what we’ve built—we’re deepening it, evolving it, and expanding it to meet today’s urgency.
Anti-racism and anti-oppression are more common terms in the sector today—but too often, they’re used as labels, not practices. Meanwhile, rising hate, widening inequality, and increased surveillance of racialized people demand more—not less.
At Across Boundaries, these principles are not trends or checkboxes. They have guided every aspect of our work—from hiring, to program design, to partnerships—from day one.
The Next 30 Years: Building, Innovating, Transforming
We will keep asking the hard questions. Keep building care that is language-accessible, community-rooted, and grounded in the intersecting realities of those we serve. Keep working to transform not just how care is delivered—but how systems are structured, funded, and held accountable, including our own.
We’re also looking ahead—leveraging tools like technology and AI to reduce barriers and enhance service delivery. But we will do so in ways that honour our values: technology must support—not replace—relationships, cultural knowledge, and community-led wisdom.
Because for us, inclusion is not the goal—transformation is.
We are not here to replicate what exists. We are here to reimagine what’s possible.
And we will continue—with care, with courage, and in community.
