Self-Guided Training • CE Credits Available
22 Hours of Content • 50 faculty
accessible pricing • community learning opportunities
Enrollment is now open!
“This work is about rights and self-determination. But it's also about finding yourself.
Who am I? How do I take these concepts into my own life?"
-Celia Brown
Identify your power to make a difference
CREATE CHOICE WHERE agency seems impossible
honor your authenticity as a care provider
Find solidarity in an ongoing struggle for liberation
FOSTER community and connection
build your care toolkit
restore the connection between mind and heart
bridGe the gap between what is happening and what is possible
Mental health care today is primarily driven by an approach that conceptualizes mental health as a brain disease, minimizing the multitude of other factors that impact our well-being such as trauma and oppression.
This approach has contributed to the exclusion, coercion, and abuse of people experiencing distress, while showing few positive results to justify its measures. It also shapes most mental health education, leaving care providers without access to research-based alternatives that address the numerous factors that impact well-being and have vast potential to promote healing. Meanwhile, many care models have been developed over the last several decades that transcend a solely medicalized model. There is a growing push to transform the way we attend to mental health, and promote narratives grounded in the voices of peers, service users, and survivors. These rights-based approaches transform individuals into agents of change rather than passive recipients of care, create space for mutual dialogue, break down power asymmetries, and address the societal factors that contribute to suffering.
The Core Curriculum is a direct response to this landscape – a product of many years of learning directly from those most impacted by the mental health system, and closely listening to what providers want and need right now.
IDHA developed the Core Curriculum to shift dominant medicalized narratives toward a paradigm of humanity, care, and support. Our goal is to help fill a critical gap in both mental health education and movement organizing, bridging a range of stakeholders and amplifying an abundance of tools and practices.
This curriculum will expose you to perspectives and approaches that you will not find in any mainstream education setting, equip you with the skills and strategies to become a more justice-informed care provider, and help you better center the agency and self-determination of those you seek to support.
The curriculum is designed as an introductory resource for those interested in exploring the challenges of our current mental health system, the history of how we got to where we are today, and gaining skills in how to transform care — but who are unsure where to begin. It is a one-of-a-kind learning and unlearning journey.
The Core Curriculum provides a robust and grounded introduction for individuals who are early in exploring and unpacking the challenges of our modern mental health system, and unsure where to begin.
The curriculum is designed for mental health practitioners and care workers of all kinds, including but not limited to:
Social workers
Psychologists
Mental health counselors
Marriage and family therapists
Psychiatrists and other medical doctors
peer specialists
Creative arts therapists
Nurses
The following groups are equally integral in our efforts to transform mental health care, and encouraged to participate:
ACADEMICS AND RESEARCHERS
EDUCATORS
ARTISTS AND WRITERS
ACTIVISTS
FAMILY MEMBERS
COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS
MOVEMENT LEADERS
Students
“IDHA's core curriculum is everything that I've been looking for in my training as a mental health care practitioner. So often, training lacks the voices of the people we work with. IDHA's core curriculum provides just that — from individual lived experiences to social movements. The content of this curriculum has re-rooted my perspective in our collective wisdom and interrelatedness.”
— former participant
IDHA’s Transformative Mental Health Core Curriculum draws upon knowledge and traditions across a range of disciplines, social movements, geographies, and perspectives to advance approaches to mental health care rooted in humanity, care, and support.
It centers the impact of structural oppression on our well-being, amplifies visionary voices of lived experience alongside research and professional perspectives, and introduces concrete tools, modalities, and language for addressing issues that so often end up medicalized. It is locally-grounded, trauma-informed, attuned to power dynamics, and celebrates diverse ways of thinking about mental health. Over the course of eight modules, you will be introduced to a systemic, historical analysis of mental health, including how racism, ableism, and other forms of oppression intersect with mental health; diverse narratives of lived experience and the powerful impact of grassroots movements, past and present; a variety of community-based and peer-led practices that support healing; and a transformative mental health lens and how to apply it to your life and work.What You’ll Learn
Construct a working definition for “transformative mental health”
Explain the value of lived experience as a central source of knowledge in transforming mental health
Critically examine the historical origins and modern-day implications of a medicalized approach to mental health in the United States and globally
Review how psychology and psychiatry have been leveraged to oppress historically marginalized groups (e.g. femmes and women, Black and Indigenous People of Color, LGBTQIA+ community members), as well as the modern-day manifestations of these histories
Demonstrate the impact of various social movements in liberating individuals with lived experience and making concrete changes both within and outside the system
Interpret a range of mental health experiences (e.g. trauma, altered states, suicide) through the lens of transformative mental health, in contrast with diagnostic language
Analyze the dominant Western medical conceptualization of care and review numerous peer-led, community-based care approaches that exist today
Identify strategies and construct values to further transform mental health on personal, collective, and societal levels
Skills You’ll Gain
Honoring and integrating lived experience in care work
Creatively assessing the unique strengths of various care approaches and tools, and which to consider based on context
Examining power and privilege and how it shows up in practice
Approaching individual and collective stories through a lens of meaning making
Holding complexity and validating multiple truths at the same time
Respecting agency and choice
Embracing uncertainty and sitting with discomfort
The Core Curriculum enlists a brilliant and world-class faculty to offer this unique and in-depth mental health education experience. We have brought together 50 experts from around the country and world – all experts in their respective field.
IDHA’s unique approach to education values lived experience as highly as professional training, bridging lived wisdom with research and professional perspectives. We strive to complicate what may be considered professional, non-professional, expert and non-expert categories. Our definition of “expertise” is process oriented, inclusive of knowledge obtained through wide-ranging methods and experiences.
The Transformative Mental Health Core Curriculum is divided into 8 modules, each consisting of pre-recorded video lessons, supplemental readings, and journaling activities. The total curriculum contains 22 hours of original video content.
To learn more about each module, hover over the image to read a brief description.
Module 1: Introducing Transformative Mental Health
- Describes the curriculum’s goals, learning objectives, guiding principles, and values
- Sets forth statements for community care and collective learning
- Grounds in IDHA’s history and vision, naming the many lineages and movements that inspire and shape our work
- Shares an introductory definition for “transformative mental health”
Module 2: Lived Experience Through Storytelling
- Explores the value of centering lived experience and storytelling in mental health
- Describes the healing power of narrative, centering the many terms and stories that can cultivate healing
- Uplifts the ways in which artmaking allows us to move beyond verbal expression
- Discusses applications of storytelling in clinical practice
Module 3: Mental Health Landscape
- Discusses the political forces that shaped the emergence of the disease model
- Examines who shaped this approach, and whose voices have been left out
- Reviews the advantages and shortcomings of the biomedical framework
- Explores the state of the mental health landscape today, including recently developed models to conceptualize mental distress
Module 4: Madness and Oppression
- Reviews key historical examples of how the mental health system has perpetuated oppression against marginalized groups
- Connects this history to a modern-day system that operates using carceral logic
- Invites participants to locate their own identities within a social and political context
- Introduces a historically grounded and intersectional analysis for mental health
Module 5: Mad Liberation
- Reviews a rich history of resistance to oppressive psychiatric treatment, providing examples of activism in and outside the system
- Discusses the ways in which mental health, disability, and other activist movements have been siloed
- Introduces a cross-movement analysis, envisioning future care systems that creatively steward liberation on multiple fronts
- Provides strategies to foster cross-stakeholder partnership and center lived experience
Module 6: Mental Health through an Experiential Lens
- Explores a range of experiences such as trauma, suicide, altered states, and substance abuse
- Grounds in how these experiences are defined by the disease model within the DSM
- Explores what happens when we shift our lens to that of transformative mental health
- Examines the political and collective nature of mental health experiences
Module 7: Holistic Care
- Provides an overview of care modalities that exist as “alternatives” to mainstream practice such as crisis respite and peer support
- Reviews innovative therapeutic practices that divest from the disease model such as open dialogue and narrative therapies
- Describes strategies to create space for dialogue and break down power asymmetries
- Introduces key considerations and next steps for holistic care practice
Module 8: Exploring Transformative Mental Health
- Revisits and explores IDHA’s conceptualization of transformative mental health
- Provides definitions and demonstrates what the three ingredients (systemic change, experiential knowledge, holistic care) look like in practice
- Provides the opportunity to construct a personal definition and action plan
- Invites participants to situate themselves in a wider ecosystem of change
NOAH GOKUL
Program Manager
JESSIE ROTH
Director
Learning Experience*
Join a learning cohort and move through the experience together over the course of a predetermined period of time. Module content will be released to you at regular intervals, and you will have the additional opportunity to convene in facilitated virtual discussion groups with your fellow cohort members.
Choose this format if:
- You prefer to learn with others
- A defined timeline helps you stay accountable to the commitment
- Your schedule accommodates the additional hours of live discussion
Self-Paced
Receive on-demand access to all eight of the curriculum's modules at once. You will have the opportunity to work through the video lessons, discussion questions, workbook journaling, resources, and other materials at your own pace and on your own timeline. There are no live discussion components within this format.
Choose this format if:
- You prefer to learn on your own
- A flexible timeline helps you commit to completing the curriculum
- Your current capacity does not allow you to commit to scheduled meetings
What You Get: |
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22 hours of original video content(116 video lessons) |
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Exclusive and curated supplemental readings(Book chapters, academic articles, poems, and zines) |
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A personal workbook to aid self-reflection(40+ prompts and activities) |
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A comprehensive and living glossary of terms(25+ pages of key definitions and sources) |
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Discussion with a creative virtual community of advocates(Hosted on Mighty Networks) |
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20.75 Continuing Education Credits($100 add-on for mental health providers) |
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1 free year of IDHA membership($40 value, redeemable upon completion of the curriculum) |
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A private community cohort space(Featuring deeper resource sharing and creative visioning) |
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12 hours of supplemental live discussion(Facilitated by IDHA staff and organizers) |
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“The lessons were fantastic, and a perfect mix of instruction about concepts and lived experience narratives and other illustrative stories. The instructors were incredible, and I was very impacted by the lessons both as a provider and a service user.”
— former participant
IDHA’s pricing structure is designed to create choice and access, and distribute resources equitably — in pursuit of our goal to share transformative mental health knowledge with as many people as possible.
Ultimately, our hope is that those with more access to resources can help cover the costs of those with less access. Using the solidarity assessments, we trust your discernment of where you best fit into the tiers provided. It’s likely that not every descriptor in a given tier will align with your experience; choose the one that resonates most closely with your current circumstances. We also recognize these sliding scales are imperfect, and invite you to meet them with nuance.
Our rates also reflect the time, intention, and care that have gone into creating this offering
after many years of work by many people.
If you don’t see a pricing option listed below that works for you, please reach out to us at core-curriculum@idha-nyc.org
For Individuals
We offer two sliding scales for individuals, meant to acknowledge the significant economic disparities present in the world, in tandem with the wide audience we hope this course will reach.
Toggle here:
HIGHER ACCESS TO WEALTH
LOWER ACCESS TO WEALTH
Generally intended for current and aspiring care providers of all kinds who are compensated for their care work, as well as people based in the Global North. People in this sliding scale may have investments, retirement savings, or expect an inheritance.
Generally intended for psychiatric survivors, activists, movement organizers, and community healers who tend to be uncompensated for their care work, as well as people based in the Global South. People in this sliding scale identify as systematically disadvantaged.
Please note that there are a limited number of slots available at this level.
reduced (individual)
$299
$99
You would not otherwise be able to access the curriculum
You are in debt or have limited disposable income for ongoing learning opportunities
Your income supports multiple other people besides yourself
Your family or loved ones have little to no access to generational wealth
general (individual)
$599
$149
You have the means to pay for yourself at the general rate
An institution is paying for you, or you have some disposable income for learning
Your income may support at least one other person besides yourself
You have some access to a financial safety net composed of family or friends
supporter (individual)
$899
$199
You are in a position to pay for yourself and subsidize access for others
An institution is paying for you, or you have a sizable disposable income for learning
Your income supports only you, and not other loved ones
You have or will have access to meaningful generational or family wealth
20.75 Continuing Education (CE) credits are available for a supplemental cost of $100.
Please note that the CE add-on is only available starting at a base registration cost of at least $299.
CEs credits are available to psychologists, social workers, counselors, therapists, medical doctors, and nurses. Click here to learn more.
For Groups
Tiered pricing is also available to institutions who wish to enroll a group of people in the Core Curriculum together. Using the solidarity assessment below, choose the rate most aligned with your institution.
Discounted rates are available for institutions that send:
10 or more participants: 20% off
20 or more participants: 25% off
Interested in sending a larger group?
Email us at core-curriculum@idha-nyc.org for inquiries about further discounts
reduced (group)
$299 / person
Your institution's annual budget is under $600,000
Your Board members are mostly low-income, and help fundraise with no required financial contribution
Your institution has limited resources to support staff professional development
general (group)
$599 / person
Your institution's budget is between $600,000 - $6 million
More than half of your Board members are high income, and regularly make financial contributions each year
Your institution can regularly pay for staff to engage in professional development
supporter (group)
$899 / person
Your institution’s annual budget is more than $6 million
Your Board is mostly high income, and regularly make $1,000 or more of financial contributions per year
Staff at your institution have a sizable professional development fund
IDHA credits and thanks AORTA and Bayo Akomolafe for directly inspiring our approach to pricing.
IDHA is pleased to offer the Transformative Mental Health Core Curriculum for Continuing Education (CE) credits.
- 20.75 CE credits for Psychologists, Social Workers, Counselors, Therapists, Medical Doctors, and Nurses are available for an add-on cost of $100, available starting at a base registration cost of at least $299 for participants enrolling in either the Learning Experience or Self-Paced format.
- 20 CE credits for New York Peer Specialists are available as a no cost add-on for all price tiers for participants enrolling in either the Learning Experience or Self-Paced format.
Anyone enrolling in the Core Curriculum for CE credits will be required to take a brief post-test upon completion of each module. Upon completion of all modules, a certificate will be issued.
In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by Amedco LLC and Institute for the Development of Human Arts (IDHA). Amedco LLC is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team. Amedco Joint Accreditation #40081.
As a training institute that values lived experience as highly as professional training, IDHA recognizes the way that the credentialing system enforces a culture of professionalism and devalues lived experience. At the same time, we believe it is a radical act to offer our training content for CE credits, ensuring that mental health workers and other clinicians can apply transformative mental health knowledge in maintaining a credential.
Learning Experience
The Fall 2024 cycle of the Learning Experience format will run for 4 months between Tuesday, September 3 and Monday, December 23.
IDHA is offering four cohorts (of approximately 15 people each) for this cycle. Cohorts will gather virtually at a regular bi-weekly time for discussion. During registration, you will have the opportunity to choose from ONE of the following cohort options:
- Wednesdays from 11 am-12:30 pm EST
- Thursdays from 6-7:30 pm EST
- Sundays from 1-2:30 pm EST
- Mondays from 6-7:30 pm EST
Content for each module will be delivered to your inbox every other week, in alignment with your cohort meeting time. A detailed schedule will be provided upon registration.
Enrollment for the Fall 2024 cycle is now closed.
Self-Paced
The Core Curriculum Self-Paced format can be taken at the pace of your choosing. IDHA designed the curriculum to be taken over a 2-4 month period, but you can complete it in more or less time if you choose.
Upon enrolling, you will receive a welcome email with all of the curriculum’s content and instructions on how to get started.
This will be the only email communication from our team, but you are welcome to reach out to us anytime at core-curriculum@idha-nyc.org with questions.
Enrollment is not capped on this format, and will remain open year-round.
Mighty Networks
The Core Curriculum is hosted on Mighty Networks, IDHA’s virtual community learning platform. This is where you’ll be able to access all of the curriculum’s videos, readings, and link out to resources such as the workbook and glossary. In addition, Mighty Networks provides the opportunity to engage with other change makers who are on a transformative mental health learning journey with you. This includes reading and adding to a rich comments section below each lesson, as well as a curriculum-wide Community Forum for all current participants and alumni.
Mighty Networks is available on both desktop and mobile. If you already have an account on IDHA’s Mighty Network, you can get started when the curriculum is sent to you. If you don't have an account yet, setting one up only takes a few minutes!
Current Features
IDHA is committed to disability justice, and strives to ensure this curriculum can be assessed without barriers by as many people as possible. This commitment is also reflected in our approach to pricing. In order to make the curriculum accessible to people with disabilities, key accessibility considerations and features include:
- Human-reviewed closed captions on all recorded video content
- Downloadable transcripts for all video lessons
- Inclusion of spoken and written visual descriptions at the start of all videos
- Screen-reader compliant embedded readings and resources
To learn more about accessibility on Mighty Networks specifically, click here.
Ongoing Work
Access is a practice, and IDHA seeks to improve accessibility for this curriculum on an ongoing basis. Features we are in the process of adding include the option to listen to audio of embedded readings and resources.
Reach out to us at core-curriculum@idha-nyc.org with any additional questions or feedback about access.
“The curriculum is an excellent primer for any mental health practitioner who is interested in learning more about incorporating diversity and social justice elements in their work but would like to learn about the history and constraints of existing systems.”
— former participant
Between our founding and the launch of the Core Curriculum, IDHA organized seven training series, dozens of events, and a series of visible, cross-movement panel conversations. Time and again, we heard about the need for a “primer” resource for those who are just starting to explore the area of transformative mental health.
In 2019, we decided to develop a mental health training model that built on all of the training content and connections IDHA amassed throughout our history, introducing participants to essential language, history, practices, and strategies.
The process to develop this curriculum was immensely collaborative, held in the structure of an organizing committee consisting of IDHA staff and members.
Featured
Dominant approaches to mental health education have been primarily developed by clinicians, rarely with the input of individuals with various forms of lived experience.
IDHA recognizes the ways in which the mental health system disproportionately impacts people of color, gender non-conforming people, and those with other marginalized identities – further excluding these individuals from shaping training opportunities. We also acknowledge that people of color have been historically underrepresented in mental health activist spaces, including IDHA.
Throughout our process, IDHA centered the perspectives and narratives of individuals and communities who have not historically had a voice in the development of mental health training — including people of color, LGBTQIA+ communities, service users, psychiatric survivors, and disabled and neurodivergent people. We also sought to bring in voices from outside the Global North, recognizing the impact Western medicalized approaches to mental health have had on other parts of the world.
Our final teaching faculty includes:
More than 70% people with lived experience
More than 50% people of color
More than 50% people who identify as queer, non-binary, or gender non-conforming
“This curriculum really broadened my view of our current mental health system. It was a very thorough critique of where we fail those in distress and gave many approaches as to ways to change all that through a vision of community coming together to heal and support one another.”
— former participant
Ready to start your transformative mental health learning journey?
If you haven't already, please review IDHA's approach to pricing and solidarity assessments.
For Individuals
Generally intended for current and aspiring care providers who are compensated for their care work, as well as people based in the Global North. People in this sliding scale may have investments, retirement savings, or expect an inheritance.
Generally intended for trauma and psychiatric survivors, activists, movement organizers, and community healers who tend to be uncompensated for their care work, as well as people based in the Global South. People in this sliding scale identify as systematically disadvantaged. *Please note that there are a limited number of slots available at this level.
For Groups
Tiered pricing is available to institutions who wish to enroll a group of people in the Core Curriculum together. Institutions sending large groups can access further discounted rates! Email us at core-curriculum@idha-nyc.org.
“The content was thought provoking and really challenged many of the assumptions and practices of the mental health system I am a part of. I found myself thinking in broader terms and questioning many of the practices. There were also so many great examples of different types of ways to provide care that it has helped me to start thinking about ways I can effect change within the systems I work with, starting with my own methods of practice.”
— former participant
Approach and Content
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IDHA’s approach to education values lived experience as highly as professional training, bridging lived wisdom with professional expertise. We strive to complicate what may be considered professional, non-professional, expert, and non-expert categories. Our definition of “expertise” is process-oriented, inclusive of knowledge obtained through wide-ranging methods and experiences. The result is a diverse faculty team consisting of clinicians, researchers, peers, service users, and activists – ensuring you receive holistic and nuanced perspectives. IDHA also bridges the gap between professional practice and social movements, which are very often at the forefront of identifying what needs to change and how to do it.
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No prior experience (with IDHA or otherwise!) is required to sign up for this curriculum. In fact, if you are new to IDHA and the concept of “transformative mental health,” this curriculum is a great place to start. If you have trained with us before, you will also be introduced to many new concepts, skills, and practices.
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This curriculum was designed as a starting place for people who are interested in, and curious about, transformative mental health. To that end, it is more introductory in nature and covers a vast range of topics, rather than diving specifically into one approach or modality. After completing this curriculum, we encourage you to check out our other courses to explore your personal areas of interest in more depth.
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At every step of developing this curriculum, IDHA prioritized uplifting the perspectives and narratives of individuals and communities who have not historically had a voice in the development of mental health training. This includes people of color, LGBTQIA+ communities, current/prior mental health service users, psychiatric survivors, and disabled and neurodivergent people. The content was informed by the results of a written survey and series of lived experience interviews, as well as ongoing and robust feedback from survivors within and beyond the IDHA community. Faculty were nominated to ensure inclusion along the lines of race, gender, disability, class, and roots in diverse social movements.
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No. The information and guidance provided in the curriculum is intended for educational purposes only. It is not medical or mental health advice. Even though many of our faculty trainers are professionally licensed mental health professionals, your review of IDHA materials, and participation in the Core Curriculum, does not create a practitioner-patient relationship. If you need medical advice or have a question regarding a medical condition, seek the advice of a qualified care provider.
Audience
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The curriculum is primarily designed for mental health practitioners, including but not limited to social workers, counselors, therapists, crisis workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists. With that said, all are welcome to take this curriculum! Academics, researchers, artists, educators, writers, organizers, activists, family members, and movement leaders would also benefit tremendously. We invite anyone interested in exploring and unpacking the challenges of our modern mental health system to join us.
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This curriculum provides the unique opportunity to learn from a variety of people who have lived experience of the mental health system, and may identify as survivors, peers, and current/prior service users. Participants working in the mental health system will be challenged to think about the ways they talk about and work with clients and encounter new language, modalities, and care strategies to bring back to their work. They will practice honoring lived experience as an invaluable form of wisdom in mental health, and gain practical skills to promote agency and approach mental health in collaborative and non-coercive ways that validate every person’s experiences. Importantly, this curriculum will not only transform those working in the mental health system – but result in improved care for those they seek to serve.
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Yes, definitely! All are welcome to enroll in this curriculum.
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Yes! Students are definitely encouraged to take this curriculum. And if you would like to see this curriculum taught as part of your academic program, reach out to us at core-curriculum@idha-nyc.org and we’d love to connect with your school.
Logistics
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The curriculum is entirely virtual, hosted on IDHA’s virtual learning platform, Mighty Networks. All of the content is virtual and pre-recorded, so live attendance is not required. The “Learning Experience” format operates according to a predetermined timeline, including a series of cohort meetings with other community members. We offer a few options for these meetings in order to accommodate participants across a range of time zones and schedule preferences. The “Self-Paced” format of the curriculum doesn’t have a set schedule, providing the flexibility for you to move entirely at your own pace.
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The curriculum consists of 22 hours of video content. Responding to discussion questions, journaling in the workbook, perusing the glossary, and visiting reference links all take additional time. For those enrolling in the “Learning Experience” format, there are an additional 12 hours of live facilitated discussion. Overall, we estimate an overall commitment of 40-60 hours to complete the curriculum, subject to vary depending on the format you choose, your pace and learning style, and how deeply you dive into the supplemental materials. Please note that some modules are longer than others, and these figures are merely an estimate.
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IDHA offers the curriculum in two different formats, for you to choose from depending on your learning preferences. If you find structure supportive and want to take the curriculum over the course of a predetermined period with other people, we recommend the “Learning Experience” format. If you prefer to move at your own pace and don’t want to feel constrained by a timeline at all, we recommend “Self-Paced.”
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No. The curriculum is self-guided and you are trusted to engage with the material in alignment with your personal learning style and needs. The more you put into the curriculum, the more you will get out of it. We encourage you to watch all of the videos and engage with the curriculum’s supplemental materials (discussion questions, workbook, glossary). Participants enrolled in the “Learning Experience” format are strongly encouraged to attend the cohort meetings, but attendance will not be taken. Please note that “proof completion” letters will only be issued to participants who have completed all curriculum lessons, and are only available upon request.
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The “Self-Paced” format of the curriculum has rolling enrollment, which means that you can enroll anytime and immediately gain access to the content. The “Learning Experience” format operates on two annual cycles, generally in the spring (March-June) and fall (October-December). This means that registration is only open for specific periods of time each year. We recommend signing up for our newsletter to be notified when additional training cycles for “Learning Experience” are announced.
Interaction
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Yes! The curriculum is hosted on IDHA’s Mighty Networks platform, which is designed for virtual community building. Lessons feature a public comment section where you can read reflections from other participants and join the conversation, and a curriculum-wide Community Forum to support ongoing dialogue among current participants and alumni. If you are interested in a higher level of interaction, we recommend the “Learning Experience” format, which includes facilitated bi-weekly cohort meetings with other people and a dedicated virtual space to build community.
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The curriculum consists of pre-recorded video content from our brilliant faculty, so you won’t be able to interact with them in the curriculum. Many faculty bios embedded within the curriculum feature websites and/or contact information, in case you are interested in getting in touch. IDHA may provide additional opportunities to interact with faculty in the future; stay tuned!
Learning Experience Format
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No, you don't! While every cohort meeting is structured around a particular module, participants are welcome to join the meetings, regardless of their progress with the curriculum. Cohort meetings are intentionally designed to honor participants who may have different learning paces or styles, with questions and activities that do not require being “caught up” with every lesson.
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We understand that capacity and availability can shift, often unexpectedly. IDHA can accommodate changes from one cohort to the next, within the same Learning Experience cycle, on a case-by-case basis. Requests for a change must be made before the official start of the Learning Experience cycle, and changes will be made if there is open space in the requested cohort. If IDHA is unable to accommodate the change to another cohort, participants have the option to transition enrollment to the Self-Paced format instead.
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At this time, IDHA is unable to accommodate a participant's shift to a future Learning Experience cohort under the same enrollment. This is due to the limited seats available within the Learning Experience format, as well as likely not yet knowing when the next cycle will take place. Participants who are unable to continue in their cohort due to shifts in capacity have the option to transition enrollment to the Self-Paced format instead.
Access and Pricing
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All videos within the curriculum are captioned and feature an embedded transcript. Faculty provide a visual description of their appearance and background at the start of each lesson, a written version of which is also embedded beneath each video alongside the faculty member’s bio. To submit feedback or recommendations to IDHA on the curriculum’s accessibility, please reach out to us at core-curriculum@idha-nyc.org, as we seek to improve the accessibility features of this curriculum on an ongoing basis.
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Yes! You will maintain lifetime access to the curriculum for the registration cost.
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Pricing accessibility is very important to us at IDHA. We offer two sliding scales (higher and lower access to wealth) to create more access and choice for our audience, while also ensuring that IDHA’s virtual doors can remain open and our team can offer this curriculum and our other educational offerings in a sustainable way. If you don’t see a pricing option listed that works for you, please reach out to us at core-curriculum@idha-nyc.org.
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These two sliding scales are intended to acknowledge the significant economic disparities present in the world, and designed to make the curriculum accessible to a wide audience while sustaining IDHA’s work. We invite you to choose from the sliding scale that is most relevant to your current circumstances. Please note that a limited number of slots are available within the “lower access to wealth” sliding scale.
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Full refunds are available prior to starting the curriculum and requests can be made by emailing core-curriculum@idha-nyc.org. For “Learning Experience” participants, please submit refund requests at least fifteen (15) days prior to your cohort’s official start date. For refund requests related to scheduling issues, the IDHA team may share any other opportunities for taking the curriculum on a more accommodating time frame, or suggest converting your registration into the “Self-Paced” format. For “Self-Paced” participants, refund requests will only be granted if the IDHA team can verify that you have not begun the curriculum.
CEs and Certification
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Yes! IDHA is excited to offer the curriculum for CE credits. Made possible by our co-sponsor Amedco, CEs are available to Psychologists, Social Workers, Counselors, Therapists, Medical Doctors, and Nurses for an add-on cost of $100. New York Peer Specialists can also take the curriculum for CEs for no additional cost. Everyone enrolling in the curriculum for CE can expect to fill out post-tests at the end of each module and will receive a certificate upon completion of the entire curriculum. Click here to learn more.
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Proof of completion letters are only available upon request. If you need such a letter, please email core-curriculum@idha-nyc.org upon completion of the course. In order to issue a proof of completion letter, IDHA will need to verify that all course content has been completed within the Mighty Networks platform.
Do you have a question about the Transformative Mental Health Core Curriculum that wasn't answered by our FAQ?
Reach out to our team anytime at: core-curriculum@idha-nyc.org