You don't have to carry it on your own.
Strong Roots is a confidential helpline for African, Black and Caribbean communities across Ontario — and for anyone who needs someone to talk to. Free to call. No judgement. No wrong reason.
Call us any time
Our phone lines
A trained support specialist will answer. You can stay anonymous.
From January 1, 2027 a trained support specialist will answer, and you can stay anonymous. If you need someone tonight, call or text 988.
Too many people struggle in silence — not because help isn't out there, but because it never felt like it was built for them.
Our job is not simply to answer a phone call. It is to help someone find a path forward.
People in African, Black and Caribbean communities run into the same walls again and again: long waits, cost, language, stigma, and services that don't understand their culture or their circumstances. Some have been misunderstood before and decided not to try again.
Strong Roots exists to be a different first phone call — one where you are heard without judgement, supported by someone who understands where you're coming from, and connected to the help you actually need.
And while our work is centred on African, Black and Caribbean communities, our lines are open to anyone seeking guidance, connection and hope.
Support that meets you where you are
Whatever brought you to the phone, you can start anywhere. You don't need to have the right words ready.
Someone who listens
A trained support specialist gives you their full attention — no rushing, no script, no judgement. Sometimes being properly heard is the thing that changes the day.
Crisis support
When things feel like too much, we stay on the line with you, help you steady yourself, and work through what needs to happen next — one step at a time.
Finding the right service
Mental health, housing, food, income, legal, newcomer and settlement supports — we know the landscape and help you find the door that will actually open.
Warm referrals
We don't just hand you a phone number. We explain what a service does, what to expect, and how to reach it, so you're not starting from zero all over again.
Follow-up for up to 90 days
With your consent, we check back in. Did the referral work? Did something fall through? Staying connected is how people get past the barriers instead of giving up at them.
Support for families
Parents, caregivers, siblings and partners are welcome to call too. Helping someone you love is heavy work, and you deserve support while you do it.
No forms. No waiting room. Just a conversation.
If you've never called a helpline before, here's exactly what to expect.
A person answers
Not a menu, not a machine. You'll be greeted by a trained support specialist. You can give your name or not — that's your choice.
You talk, we listen
Say as much or as little as you want. There's no test to pass and no situation too small to call about.
We work it out together
If you need a service, we help you find it and explain how to get there. If you just needed to talk, that's a complete call too.
We stay in touch
If you'd like, we can follow up for up to 90 days to make sure you got connected and nothing fell through the cracks.
Rooted in our communities. Open to everyone.
Our programs are designed around the experiences of African, Black and Caribbean individuals and families. But no one who calls us is turned away.
How to reach us
"I kept meeting people who had already given up on asking for help."
"They weren't difficult people, and they weren't beyond helping. They had reached out once, felt misunderstood, and decided it wasn't worth going through that again. That is a loss we can prevent.
Strong Roots started with a simple idea: what if the first phone call was a good one? What if the person on the other end understood your background without you having to explain it, and stayed with you long enough to actually get you somewhere?
We are building the line I wish had existed for people I know. Somewhere you can call at three in the morning and be met with patience instead of paperwork. Somewhere your culture is context, not a complication.
If you are holding something heavy right now, please call us. You are not a burden, and you are not alone."
"A phone number is not the same thing as help."
"It is easy to hand someone a number and call that support. But a number doesn't tell you whether that service is taking new clients this month, whether they will understand where you're coming from, or what you're supposed to do when the line goes to voicemail for the third time.
My job is everything around the call. Training the people who answer, so they listen properly and actually know the system they're guiding you through. Building relationships with organisations across Ontario, so that when we send you somewhere, a real door opens. And running the follow-up, so we find out whether it worked instead of assuming it did.
We hold ourselves to whether someone got somewhere — not to how many calls we took."
We're building communities where every person feels
Over the next five to ten years, Strong Roots aims to grow across Ontario, throughout Canada, and eventually to African and Caribbean diaspora communities internationally.
What does our community actually need?
We're asking people across Ontario about the barriers they've faced and the support they'd want. It's anonymous, takes about four minutes, and it shapes what we build next.
If you are in immediate danger
Call 911 or go to your nearest emergency department. For urgent suicide or crisis support anywhere in Canada, call or text 988 at any hour.