Registration is now closed for Cultivating Community!

See you for our next series in Fall 2022!

Series Overview

These past two years have fostered a deep and pervasive sense of isolation, separation, distance, and disconnection. We are in an age of collective reckoning, with growing numbers of people attuned to the widespread suffering of individuals, families, and neighborhoods. At best, our systems and institutions are falling short of providing meaningful care and support; at worst, they work against us and perpetuate further harm. The ongoing pandemic also laid bare how intertwined we are with one another. The health of one person can no longer be separate from their community’s health, or the health of the planet at large. 

In order for our most radical visions of healing to be realized, we must learn to be in relationship with one another in new ways, create shared commitments, and foster collective resistance. But in a society that frequently privileges individualism, we are rarely presented with the opportunity to practice building authentic connections in ways that can make us more adept healers and helpers. This process requires unlearning dominant patterns, as well honoring Indigenous approaches that hold relationships as sacred.

The start of the pandemic was accompanied by an encouraging burst of grassroots community building. Amid the inability to gather in person, those with personal and political homes nested deeper within them; those without a sense of the collective gravitated towards it. As the health crisis wore on, many began to ask: What is community? What does it mean to be in community? How is community created, and how can this be done inclusively and sustainably? How can communities address systemic harm and equitably meet individual member needs?

IDHA’s Spring 2022 training series seeks to shine a light on the essential role of community, connection, and relationship in building care systems that center collective liberation. Over the course of five sessions, we will explore how we can create the conditions for community in a range of diverse settings; discuss community as a form of resistance to oppression; and introduce concrete approaches, tools, and strategies to foster community care in and outside of the formal mental health system.

 Schedule

Registration includes the 3-hour class session, and access to IDHA’s School for Transformative Mental Health forum on Mighty Networks. This is our virtual learning community where you’ll have the opportunity to engage with other students and your faculty.

ASL translation and live closed captioning will be provided for all classes.

Sunday, April 24, 12-3 pm EST

Facilitated by D.M. Marchand-Lafortune and Eleni zimiles

NOTE: 2.75 CE credits are available for this class. Learn more about CE credits at IDHA here.
Level: Beginning/Introductory

Dominant healing paradigms are shaped by cultures of individualism. People are taught to value self care over community care, and celebrate personal success at the expense of community thriving. Two years into a mass environmental, economic, and health crisis, we ask: What does a society that cares for both individual people and communities look like, and how does it function? How can we seize this moment in time as an opportunity to uphold community, connection, and relationship? This process will require a radical cultural shift – a move away from the idealized individualism within neoliberal societies, and towards building communities of collectivism where no one is left behind to fend for themselves.

This class will discuss how we can transition from a paradigm of individualism to collectivism in the context of mental health care and healing. We will discuss how mental health workers and healers of all backgrounds can practice community-centered care while still honoring individual needs, interests, and differences. To do so, we will spotlight and honor Indigenous approaches that hold all relationships as sacred – including those to each other, ourselves, and to the earth. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in deep learning for deep change and gain new skills in a transformative approach to “decolonizing the heart.”

Learning objectives:

• Compare the gift economy to the capitalist economy of white settler societies, and how each approach informs the creation and practice of relationships

• Demonstrate how conflicts arise from scarcity and a failure to have needs met, and how  to practice a needs-based conflict analysis

• Evaluate the ways in which self care has been commodified

• Name how cultures of individualism and collectivism play out in mental health discourse, including diagnosis and treatment

• Practice interpersonal co-regulation skills and how we can sync our nervous systems to connect in shared spaces or as support people for others (in contrast to the mainstream mental health framework’s heavy focus on self-regulation)

Sunday, may 8, 12-3 pm EST

Facilitated by Ivelisse Gilestra AND Carlos Padrón

NOTE: 2.75 CE credits are available for this class. Learn more about CE credits at IDHA here.
Level: Beginning/Introductory

This class will discuss the impact of colonial and capitalist structures on people and communities that have been excluded from what is often thought of as “history” and “civilization” based on identity (i.e. race, gender, sexual identity, ethnicity, etc). We are particularly interested in analyzing the impacts of capitalism and colonialism on mental health systems and the well-being of those who are marginalized and excluded.

Faculty will explore how such systems reinforce a private notion of subjectivity, institutionality, and space; as well as how they hinder the possibility of the common, of public space, and solidarity. Though “us-them” dichotomies posit that difference repels us to different realities, we hope to dream up a new future in which our differences are seen as a strength, inviting emergent opportunities for connection and mutuality. Our objective is to imagine new ways of being in community, introducing liberatory practices that encourage the establishment of the common: inclusivity, access, and the experience of interdependence.

Learning objectives:

• Appraise how community and mental health are affected by power, money, and systems of oppression

• Identify the role that identity (race, culture, gender, class, ethnicity, etc.) plays in the constitution of subjectivity and community, and how these are impacted by systems of exclusion and marginalization

• Analyze how the common can be created while harnessing difference

• Practice how to build horizontal community structures that reinforce inclusivity, shared resources, and the experience of interdependence

Sunday, May 22, 12-3 pm EST

Facilitated by dawn Serra and Kai Werder

NOTE: 2.75 CE credits are available for this class. Learn more about CE credits at IDHA here.
Level: Beginning/Introductory

Trust, intimacy, and consent are essential to all relationships – including connections found within wider collectives and communities, whether they be personal or professional. Nourishing connections is not a static process, rather one that must be tended to over time for connections to flourish and endure. Centered accountability is a cornerstone of sustaining these bonds, making it possible to heal wounds and navigate conflict with intention and care when it emerges.

 In this session, we will explore tangible practices to nurture relationships and move towards a more liberatory future. Faculty will guide participants to consider how these values can be applied in both interpersonal and collective work, introducing tools and practices that can be deployed in virtual and in-person contexts. Participants will walk away with an understanding of how to attend to our individual wants, needs, and desires to show up more fully in our work and in our personal lives. We will also discuss how to strengthen ties with ourselves and each other when tested.

Learning objectives:

• Identify strategies to cultivate trust and consent in provider/client, interpersonal, and collective relationships

• Apply strategies such as harm reduction, boundary mapping, and safety and care planning to deepen intimacy and connection and cultivate networks of care

• Define consent in relationships beyond a binary, yes/no structure

• Practice building our collective capacity for accountability in a transformative way

• Identify strategies to cultivate relationships and intimacy virtually and in online spaces

• Discuss embodied pleasure as a pathway toward presence, boundaries, and connection

Sunday, June 5, 12-3 pm EST

Facilitated by B Stepp and Norma Wong

NOTE: 2.75 CE credits are available for this class. Learn more about CE credits at IDHA here.
Level: Beginning/Introductory

In both movement organizing and mental health spaces, trauma impacts our capacity to show up, treat each other well, stay connected, and hold mutual dignity. Our ability to be in relationship is heavily shaped by Western society’s focus on individualism and the separation of  mind, body, and spirit. As our communities navigate multiple oppressions and manifestations of trauma, there are limits to Western care modalities such as psychotherapy in fostering collective liberation. In sharp contrast, embodiment and transformational work bring clarity about when and why to use each kind of tool. This work invites and centers political, social, and historical analyses, exploring how belonging is shaped by context, and vice versa. By recognizing what needs to shift, a new worldview is possible.

This class will draw on ancient wisdom and modern embodiment practices to discuss how we can work collectively to cultivate more belonging in our communities. Some of the big questions that we will explore together are: How do our social and economic context shape or influence belonging? How does belonging or not belonging shape our embodiment and our relationship to other bodies? What is possible when we feel belonging? How does belonging relate to feeling "safe" or regenerating safety together? What practices can we turn to in order to increase belonging, individually and collectively?

Learning objectives:

• Name the impacts of Western individualism on our ability to create and sustain relationships, interpersonally and in broader groups

• Distinguish an embodiment approach from dominant Western approaches to care

• Evaluate how our broader social and economic conditions shape our ability to cultivate belonging in mental health spaces and broader communities

• Discuss the relationship between belonging and safety

• Practice individual and collective strategies to increase an authentic sense of belonging for ourselves and those we work with

Sunday, June 19, 12-3pm EST

Facilitated by Stas Schmiedt and LeaNder Roth

NOTE: 2.75 CE credits are available for this class. Learn more about CE credits at IDHA here.
Level: Beginning/Introductory

The diversity of our communities and movements is a critical strength in our ability to work toward collective liberation. Differences in identity, perspective, experience, and opinion inevitably manifest in disagreement and conflict, and may contribute to harm in the absence of common language, practices, and systems for conflict analysis and conscious response. These skills are similarly necessary for those of us providing care to individuals or within our communities, as we often work with people and groups with histories, identities, and experiences that vary from our own – including in ways that may challenge our own worldviews and realities.

This class will help participants deepen their understanding and analysis of difference and conflict. We will engage with practical tools to support building empathy amid disagreement, understand and map power dynamics, and discuss the choice points available throughout conflict when we choose to respond rather than react. Stemming from the understanding that conflict is inevitable and can be a powerful asset in co-designing more liberated futures, faculty will guide participants to engage with and prepare for conflict in ways that generate more possibilities, greater connection, and fuller expression.

Learning objectives:

• Demonstrate the power of dissent and disagreement when paired with connection and mutual care in a range of contexts

• Evaluate how to practice “polyphony” and “both/and” in your work, holding multiple voices and perspectives at the same time

• Integrate the principles of “generative conflict,” understanding the conditions that make its practice possible, as well as how to move away from conflict avoidance and unhealthy attachment to conflict

• Practice sitting with discomfort and uncertainty

FAQ

What’s unique about IDHA’s approach?
We value lived experience as highly as professional training, so each course will be led by both a mental health clinician as well as someone who identifies as a survivor, a mental health service user, and/or someone who has experienced a mental health crisis. This will ensure participants receive holistic and nuanced perspectives.

Who is this series for?
This course is for mental health professionals, including but not limited to: clinicians, such as psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers, peer specialists, recovery support specialists, housing specialists, nurse practitioners and medical professionals, students. and anyone who works or plans to work with and around people who experience mental health-related issues.

Where are the classes held?
Classes will be held virtually via Zoom. Be sure to download the Zoom software onto your computer in advance of the training! 

Are scholarships available?
IDHA will award 25 scholarship positions to mental health providers, peers, current and prior users of mental health services, and/or activists and advocates who are passionate about transformative mental health practices. POC, LGBTQI, transgender, low-income, disabled persons, and other marginalized groups are given priority. Apply for a scholarship by April 8 here.

Are these classes accessible?
Live ASL translation and closed captioning will be provided for all five class sessions.

Do I have to show up right at the time advertised for the class?
Yes, this is a live training so please be sure you are available at that time. All sessions will be recorded and shared with registrants after. Please note that all sessions begin at 12pm EST.

Will I have the opportunity to interact with faculty?
Yes, each live training will provide the opportunity to interact with the faculty. You can also interact with many faculty members on Mighty Networks.

What is your cancellation policy?
For any questions or concerns, please email us at contact@idha-nyc.org.

There is no conflict of interest or commercial support for this program.

Questions? Email us at contact@idha-nyc.org.