The Hong Fook experience: working with ethnocultural communities in Toronto 1982-2002.

The experience of the first 20 years of a community mental health service for the Asian communities in Toronto, the Hong Fook Mental Health Association, is presented within the context of the overall development of mental health services to ethnocultural minorities in Toronto and Canada. The various people involved and the relationships with other stakeholders are described. Through the discussion, the socio-political and cultural factors contributing to its successes and failures are highlighted. The future for Hong Fook, and the mental health system at large, is considered. The article finishes with an outline of the philosophical basis that has sustained Hong Fook's development.