Adult Mental Health Programs & Support Services

These programs and services are provided for those who are 16 years and older:

Intake & Referrals
Case Management
Alternative Healing
Support Group
Skills Building
Community Outreach
Psychiatric Consultation Program
Family Support
Anti Racism/Ant-Oppression Training
Community Based Research

 

Skills Building

Across Boundaries skills building programs provide opportunities for participants to share and learn new skills in preparing for employment and in coping with day-to-day life issues. Consumers/Survivors themselves who have expertise in the fields run these programs.

Computer Training
Literacy and ESL
Life Skills
Empowerment & Leadership Groups
Community Kitchen
Current Events
Drop In
Community Meeting

 

Community Kitchen

Food is an important part of sharing our culture and celebrating while also meeting our daily needs. Clients develop life skills for independent living, meal planning, cooking cleaning, budgeting, and grocery shopping.

Recipes that Cross Boundaries

Compliments of our community kitchen (that provide the daily lunches) we bring you recipes that cross boundaries. Over the years Across Boundaries has had the pleasure of serving up food prepared by kitchen coordinators that hail from the far reaches of the globe. Along the way we started collecting the very recipes that warm the body and heal the soul here at the centre. Here is a sample of our international cuisine.

* Banana Crepes
* Chin Chin Traditional Cookies
* Coconut Dumpling with Saltfish
* Cook Up Rice
* Curry Chicken
* Fish Soup
* Fish with Callaloo
* Goat Head Soup
* Lentil Soup
* Qabili Pilau

Banana Crepes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes - Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 cup of homogenized milk
1 egg
3 ripe bananas
1 cup of white flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground cloves
3 tablespoon salted butter

How to make Banana Crepes:
1) Mix the milk, flour and egg together in a large bowl.
2) Mash the bananas and add them to the mixture.
3) Add the spices to the mixture.
4) Heat the skillet on high, then, reduce to medium heat.
6) When Skillet warms, put butter into the pan and let it melt. Pour excess melted butter into a glass or dish, to use for more frying later.
7) Take half-full cups of the mixture and pour it into the pan. It should be a nice circle shape that covers the bottom of the pan.
8) Flip the crepe with a spatula when outside edges turn a brown color.
9) Cook on the other side for a couple of minutes.
10) Serve with maple syrup and butter. Notes: Cook the crepes according to your personal taste. If you like them soft cook for a minute, if you like them crunchy cook for longer.

This recipe is from France. This version was provided by Mohamed Musa.

Chin Chin Traditional Cookies

Cooking time: 1 hour - makes 40 small cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups white all-purpose flour
1 cup sunflower oil
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 of Crisco shortening
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
roughly 1 cup of 2% milk
1 teaspoon salt

How to make Chin Chin:
1) Combine the flour, milk, and shortening to form a batter that you can roll into a soft ball. If the batter is too hard and crumbly, add a little more milk. If the batter is too watery, add a little more flour.
2) Add the egg to the batter and keep mixing.
3) Add the salt and sugar; keep mixing until the mixture is smooth.
4) Add the baking powder and mix well.
5) Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it is even and flat (about 1/4 inch high).
6) Cut the dough into 1-inch strips. Now cut 1-inch strips in the other direction, making a bunch of small squares.

Variations:
Circle shape - place an egg cup upside down on the dough and push it through. Remove the piece of dough from the egg cup.
Traditional shape - take a square piece of dough (step 6), and make a hole in the middle of the square. Turn the square sideways. It should now be a diamond shape. Fold down the top corner, feeding it through the hole in the middle. Repeat with the bottom corner. Turn the dough over, and continue pulling the ends that were fed through the hole. The shape should look like a braided '8'.

7) Heat the oil in a deep frying pan on medium. Fry the cookies until brown. Drain oil on paper towels & cool.

This recipe is from Nigeria, and was provided by Uzo Ezemenari

 

Coconut Dumpling with Saltfish

Cooking Time: 1 hour + overnight soaking -- serves 4

Ingredients:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
I coconut
1 pound of salted codfish
2 cups white flour or cornmeal & water for soaking
2-3 tablespoons water
3 cloves of garlic
1 medium white onion
2-3 medium tomatoes
1 teaspoon baking powder

How to make Coconut Dumpling with Saltfish:
1) Soak the codfish in water overnight. Then rinse, drain, and cut the fish into one-inch pieces.
2) Grate the coconut meat and mix it with the flour and baking soda.
3) Add the tablespoons of water slowly to the coconut mixture, stirring it in until it feels like dough.
4) Use your hands to form the dumplings into an egg shape.
5) Boil the dumplings for 15-20 minutes.
6) Dice the onions and garlic, cut up the tomato
7) Heat the oil on medium to fry ingredients in step 6.
8) Add the codfish and simmer for 30 minutes.

This recipe is from St. Vincent and was provided by Eileen Quammie

 

Cook up Rice

Cooking time: 1.5 hours + soaking time -- Serves 4

Ingredients:
8 ounces of cut up chicken
6 ounces of stewing beef cut in small pieces
1 medium white onion, chopped
2 to 3 green onions, chopped
1/2 pound of carrots, diced
2 medium sized tomatoes, sliced
2 cups of rice
4 cups of cool water
1sweet red pepper, chopped (green or yellow is also fine)
1 ounce of margarine
Juice from 1 lime
1 tablespoon of salt

How to make Cook up Rice:
1) Soak the salted meat in cold water overnight, and drain.
2) Mix the chicken pieces with salt & lime juice, let it sit for 30 minutes
3) Wash the chicken, stewing beef and salt beef
4) Put the salt beef and stewing beef in a pot with 4 cups of water. Cook on medium heat for 30 minutes.
5) Add the chicken pieces, white onion, and green onions.
6) After about 15 minutes (when the meat is almost cooked), add the rice, carrots, and margarine
7) Taste for saltiness, and add some salt if needed
8) Cook for another 15-20 minutes until the rice is done.
9) Heap the cooked rice on a platter. Decorate with slices of tomato and sweet pepper.

This recipe is from Barbados and was provided by Margaret Small

 

Curry Chicken

Cooking time: 2 hours -- Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
4 cloves of garlic hot water for soaking and a large tub
1 medium onion
2 medium sized potatoes
2 tablespoon curry powder
1 bowl to marinate meat
1 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
courage to kill the bird

How to make Curry Chicken:
1) Put the chicken's head on a chopping block outside, and cut it off with a cleaver. Submerge the body in the tub of hot water and pull off the feathers
2) Cut the chicken open along its belly. Cut out the insides and throw them away. (You can keep the gizzard & liver to use in another dish). Wash the body of the chicken under tap water.
3) Cut off the wings, legs, hips, and neck. Chop up the breast and back, and cut the thighs and drumsticks apart
4) Put the pieces in a bowl, mix with salt & pepper. Let it stand (marinate) for 30 minutes
5) Mince the garlic, dice the onion, & cut potatoes into 1 inch pieces.
6) Brown the meat in a pot
7) Add the onion, garlic, potatoes and curry to the meat
8) Add about an inch of water to the pot and cover, leaving lid open a little so steam can escape. Cook on medium high for about 45 minutes, until the consistency is like stew. Serve with rice or roti shells.

This recipe is from Jamaica, and was provided by Delroy Harrison

 

Fish Soup

Cooking time: 1 hour -- Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 pound fish (white fish, snapper)
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp butter
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 whole hot red pepper
6 cups water
1 tbsp ketchup
1 pound potatoes, sliced
1 tbsp lime juice
1 cup green onion, chopped

How to make Fish Soup:
1) Clean the fish and cut into slices
2) In a pot, fry the onion and garlic in butter over medium-low heat, until clear. Do not let the onions brown.
3) Add the fish and all remaining ingredients except for the green onion and the lime juice. Simmer (cook over medium-low heat) for 30 minutes.
4) Remove the fish, and dice up the bones.
5) Add fish and reheat
6) Stir in lime juice, garnish with green onions.

This dish is from the West Indies and was provided by Everton Cunningham

 

Fish with Callaloo

Cooking time: 1.5 hrs + overnight soaking -- serves 6

Ingredients:
1 thick piece of salted fish (500g)
1 fresh fish (500g), or fish in pieces
3 cloves of garlic, minced (cut up in really small pieces)
I medium sized white onion, diced
1 bunch of callaloo
2 medium sized tomatoes
6 okras
1 medium eggplant
juice from half a lemon
1 teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons palm oil

How to cook Fish with Callaloo:
1) Soak the salted fish in water overnight, and then drain.
2) Clean the fresh fish and cut into small pieces. Mix with lemon juice, garlic, pepper, & onion for 30 minutes.
3) Cut the vegetables into small pieces
4) Mix the salted and fresh fish together and put the mixture in a cooking pot.
5) Put the vegetables on top of the fish, and place the callaloo on top of everything in the pot.
6) Pour the palm oil on top of the callaloo.
7) Put the pot on the stove over medium heat.
8) After 7 minutes, add half a cup of water and leave to
cook for about 45 minutes.

This recipe is from Angola and was provided by Carmen de Almeida

 

Goat Head Soup

Ingredients:
1 goat head cut into pieces (you can buy meat in pieces)
1/2 pound yellow yam cut into 2 inch pieces
2 green bananas
1/4 pound dasheen, cut in halves
2 carrots, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
1/4 pound cocoa, cut in 2 inch pieces
1 medium potato cut into 1 inch pieces
11/2 cups white, corn, or other flour*, 1/4 tsp salt*, 2-3 tbsp water *
1 scallion, crushed
1 whole hot red or green pepper
1 branch of thyme
1 pack of chicken or cock noodles
1 tbsp butter
salt to taste

How to make Goat Head Soup:
1) Boil the goat head in water for 45 minutes.
2) Make dumplings by combining the * ingredients. Shape the dough into with your hands. Set aside.

 

Lentil Soup

Cooking Time: 1 hour -- Serves 3

Ingredients:
1 cup of yellow lentils 1 tablespoon salt
3 cups of water 1 tbsp of cumin seeds
2 medium tomatoes 1 small piece of ginger, grated
3 tbsp vegetable oil

How to make Lentil Soup:
1) Cut up the tomatoes into 1-inch pieces
2) Wash the lentils once in water.
3) Heat the oil in a pot over on high, and fry the cumin seeds and ginger for 1 minute. Add lentils and water.
4) When it starts to boil, turn the heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes until the lentils are soft. Stir occasionally.
5) Stir in the tomatoes and serve immediately.

This recipe is from the Philippines and was provided by Luis Ibeas.

 

Qabili Pilau

Cooking time: 1.5 hours, serves 4

Ingredients:
2 cups basmati rice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 pound lamb on the bone or 1 chicken, cut in 1-inch pieces
3 cups water
2 large carrots, cut into matchstick size pieces
1 cup raisins (golden sultanas are recommended)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon saffron (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
1 medium onion, diced
1 teaspoon white sugar

How to make Qabili Pilau:
1) On medium heat, brown the onions in oil, then add meat and brown the meat slightly, stir constantly.
2) Add water, salt, cinnamon, and cumin.
3) Cover and simmer on low heat for about 1 hour. Remove the meat from the juice, set juice aside
4) Sauté carrots and sugar in oil until lightly browned, then remove from oil. Lightly fry the raisins in oil.
5) Boil the meat juice, and then add rice. Turn heat to low, cover, and cook until the rice is tender (15-20 min.)
6) Mix everything together and place in a large oven-proof bowl. Bake at 350 for half an hour to an hour
7) To serve, place on platter with the raisins and carrots showing on top.

This is an Arabic recipe. It was provided by Najiba Afsali, Surria Papalzi, and Falerisadat Ejazi.