institute for the development of human arts

2024 Year in Review

2024 highlighted the power of both individual practice and collective movement in transforming mental health. Amid rising state violence, ongoing genocides, and deepening political tensions, it is clearer than ever that systems won’t save us – only community care can bring us closer to a future where we are all free.

This year, IDHA reached thousands of people with the knowledge, skills, and community necessary to reimagine how we approach mental health. Thanks to our work, providers, activists, artists, and survivors can come together to ask hard questions, gain new perspectives, and hold space for multiple truths. Building bridges across social movements, together we are uplifting the importance of solidarity and the role we each play in collective liberation.

Organization

Dear IDHA Community,

At the end of each year, I look forward to creating our year-end report and video. The process of reflecting on IDHA’s successes, challenges, and learnings is something of a ritual now . I am deeply proud of all we've cultivated over the years, and I love memorializing our intentions and impact through words and images.

As 2024 started to draw to a close, I noticed a sense of apprehension about writing this report. When I look back on the year, I am confronted with the heaviness of the times we are living in. It often feels like the world is only getting worse; I am filled with fear, grief, and the sense that celebrating accomplishments may seem misplaced. Multiple ongoing genocides, political violence, widening economic disparities, deepening political tensions, and rising psychiatric coercion are all pervasive and part of what has been deemed by some as the ‘polycrisis.’ But then I remember two adages from Mariame Kaba: “hope is a discipline” and “everything worthwhile is done with other people.” Our communities are overflowing with the creativity, resistance, and brilliance we need to achieve our wildest dreams, and I believe we will – but not without challenges.

2024 was a year of learning and growth edges. Many of us were called to lean into uncertainty and stretch well beyond our comfort zones, and these experiences also profoundly shaped IDHA’s work. Leaning into challenging moments revealed new approaches and deeper connections. So much of my hope hangs in the balance of our collective ability to navigate the unknown, build across lines of difference, and learn and grow through conflict. And I believe we can – but not without practice.

The organization generative somatics talks about the transformative power of practice, noting that transformation will always, at some point, engage our emotions. Ng’ethe Maina and Staci K. Haines say, “Nothing is wrong with this; it is just to be expected. As we change default practices and engage in new practices, the internal terrain of who we are is changed. The more you notice your emotional landscape being stirred and engaged, the more you know you are on a road of transformation.”

In relation to IDHA, our wider movements, and the world at large, I see our emotional landscapes stirring and shifting. Though it is not always easy to experience or witness, I believe we are on a road of transformation and committed to the journey. I see IDHA as one meaningful site of practice – a place to gain knowledge, learn new skills, and take risks. This is the work of building the world we want to see: a world where everyone can access and practice care rooted in choice, autonomy, and self-determination.

As for the importance of reflecting on accomplishments or marking the passage of time with a year-end report, I realize that for me, this practice is part of my discipline of hope. It allows me to ground myself in what we’ve achieved, to honor the work that’s been put in by so many people, and to reaffirm our shared commitment to continue pushing forward, even in the face of uncertainty.

In solidarity,

This year, IDHA continued to offer a wide array of accessible virtual education opportunities that uplift lived experience and provide our audience with the chance to connect to a diverse range of modalities and movements. After launching the Transformative Mental Health Core Curriculum in 2023, we reached hundreds more with this foundational training and made significant strides in developing leadership within the Learning Experience format. We also extended our reach through both live and self-paced offerings, reaching new audiences and equipping them with tools and knowledge to organize in pursuit of liberation and healing.

Transformative Mental Health Core Curriculum

Last year, IDHA launched our foundational training, the Transformative Mental Health Core Curriculum, after more than three years of collaboration. It is the 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. It is a love letter to the countless organizations, movements, and survivors who have worked for decades to develop humane care models and resist harmful interventions. We built this curriculum for those who are constrained by their reductive training, and the oppressive systems they operate in. It consists of 22 hours of video lessons and is available for CE credits.

In 2024, we continued to offer the curriculum to our audience, reaching more than 285 people through the curriculum’s two formats. Through the Self-Paced format, 64% of enrolled participants received on-demand access to all eight of the curriculum's modules at once, and worked through the video lessons, discussion questions, workbook journaling, resources, and other materials at their own pace and on their own timeline. 36% of enrolled participants opted to join a cohort as part of the Learning Experience format, and moved through the experience with a group, convening in facilitated virtual discussion groups with their fellow cohort members. In response to feedback from participants in our inaugural Learning Experience cycle in Fall 2023, we extended the length of this format from 2 to 4 months, and increased the number of cohort meetings from 5 to 8 (one per module). This expanded timeline is intended to support learners in moving through the curriculum at a more sustainable pace.

To support implementation of the Learning Experience format, we developed a scalable model whereby IDHA members can serve as facilitators of cohort groups, developing community leadership. We created a series of materials to support this, including a pre-recorded facilitator training, cohort facilitator guide (with an emphasis on how to hold an IDHA values-aligned space, and how to navigate polyphony, conflict, and disagreement), and a live facilitator training (with opportunities to role play and talk through scenarios in a group). We offered 7 cohorts between the Spring and Fall cycles in 2024, drawing from members of the Core Curriculum Committee, beta testers of the curriculum in Summer 2023, and curriculum alumni.

To help spread the word about the curriculum during Spring and Fall “open enrollment” periods, we continued to host our Transformative Mental Health Talks panel series. In February, a second installment, Analyzing Power in Mental Health Care, brought together four Core Curriculum faculty members to discuss how they practice a transformative approach to mental health that honors our unique histories and inherent interconnectedness. In August, Radical Hope & Experimentation in Care convened four faculty who are creating spaces of refuge and transformation through their work in and outside the mental health system. Both panels culminated with a brief overview of the curriculum by IDHA staff, as well as a sneak peek of the lessons each faculty member contributed to the curriculum. 

Another way we spread awareness of the curriculum in 2024 was by expanding our presence at virtual and in-person conferences, including SQIP in Boston, NARPA in Portland, and ISPS-US in Pittsburgh. To further share the curriculum’s vast content in more accessible, bite-sized ways  for online audiences in particular, we also created a series of educational posts on Instagram. Posts explored topics such as mental health oppression, peer respite, the politics of storytelling, putting transformative care into practice, and radical approaches to suicide. Several of these posts were developed in collaboration with our faculty, giving our audience the opportunity to dive deeper on a specific area.

As part of our commitment to accessibility, 39% of curriculum enrollments were at our lower access to wealth tier in 2024, and we granted 25 full scholarships. Looking ahead, we remain dedicated to continuing to make the curriculum available to people of all incomes through our tiered pricing structure. This effort is made possible thanks to all who enroll within the higher access to wealth tier.

Overall, the Core Curriculum is already playing an essential role within our wider movement, sharing knowledge and skills in ways that honor the fierce advocates and organizations that came before us. This is demonstrated by some of what community members tell us they are taking away from the experience as it comes to an end. In the words of one participant, “The curriculum showed me the breadth of possibility. It invited the question of ‘what is my relationship to this?’ rather than pushing for one perspective.” Another shared, “I have a better sense of how many people are, and have already been, thinking about these things. I feel less isolated and more seen in terms of my hopes for systems change.”

Self-Paced Courses

Hosted on Mighty networks

3,930+

All-time enrollments

250+

enrollments this year

IDHA adapts our live trainings into self-paced offerings, enabling us to reach many more people nationally and globally. These offerings are “evergreen,” meaning they can be accessed and completed at the participant's leisure.

This year, we refreshed the Self-Paced Course Library’s design, making it easier than ever to access the wealth of knowledge available in these courses. With the new landing page, it’s possible to sort courses by those that are new, free, CE-eligible, or part of a series bundle. We also accredited four courses for CE credits – a first for this library.

We adapted the 6 remaining classes from the Crossroads of Crisis training series, making the set of 8 available as a bundle in the library. Each of these courses contains 2-3 hours of video content, exclusive readings and resources, a reference and resource list to aid ongoing learning, and access to discussion with a growing community of professionals and advocates:

In May, amid the loss of beloved movement leader Bhargavi Davar, we shared a self-paced adaptation of the class she co-taught as part of IDHA’s Psychologies of Liberation series in 2021: Global Grassroots Responses: Weaving Together Healing and Social Justice. Bhargavi’s work is a gift to all of us, and we are profoundly grateful for the opportunity to have known and learned from her. For decades, she spoke with fiery passion and unwavering clarity about the violence of biopsychiatry and mental health “treatment,” particularly as Western approaches spread around the world, displacing traditional healing systems. She paired vocal critique with a clear path forward, showing us what it looks like to practice care that centers inclusion, choice, autonomy, empathy, and love.

Our self-paced course library now features a total of 24 offerings. Anyone who enrolls in a self-paced course also receives immediate access to IDHA’s School for Transformative Mental Health on Mighty Networks, where they join a growing community of 2,900+ change makers sharing resources and engaging in generative dialogue. Since launching our self-paced courses in 2019, we have had nearly 4,000 enrollments, a figure we only expect to grow in the coming years.

Topographies of (Dis)Connection

Winter-spring 2024

480+

Participants
trained

In January 2024, IDHA kicked off the live virtual training series Topographies of (Dis)Connection: Re-membering Self, Community, and Land. This series was envisioned and developed amid escalating colonial oppression worldwide, including in Palestine, which contributed to our core inquiry of how to chart place, connectivity, and belonging through transformative mental health while colonialism continues to sever us from our lands, lineages, and ways of healing.

Consequently, this series sought to repair and deepen connection within and between each other, our communities, and the Earth – uplifting healing approaches that align us on the path to liberation and the rematriation of community care. Over the course of 6 classes, we examined the colonial and capitalist roots of disconnection, explored trauma-informed and body-based strategies for re-membering mind, body, and spirit, addressed the impact of forced displacement and ongoing land dispossession, uplifted ancestral and Indigenous healing practices, reimagined mental health care beyond carceral logics, and cultivated communal capacity for engaging conflict in ways that invite deeper intimacy and accountability.

In feedback forms submitted after the classes, participants praised the care embedded in every aspect of organizing. One attendee shared, “I love how inclusive, welcoming you all are at every stage of our interaction.” Many celebrated the transformative power of the series, especially the ways it validated personal experiences and offered pathways toward healing. As one person put it: “I have never felt so seen and heard. Learning about how to not perpetuate harm, as well as imagine new possibilities, was the hope that I needed.” Participants also applauded the faculty’s willingness to share vulnerabilities and blend critical reflections with practical strategies. One attendee summed it up by saying: “Phenomenal way of helping folks learn about these topics and reflect in community, with ample opportunities for reflection, grounding, connection.”

Echoing feedback about prior live series, the supplemental discussion groups one week after each class once again proved vital. Participants noted the “beautifully done, light touch moderation” and appreciated breakout rooms that provided varied options for engagement based on personal comfort and curiosity. One person praised the integrations of Jamboards for creative exercises and the slower pacing, which allowed for deeper reflection. We offered 62 full or partial scholarships to the series, made possible thanks to the generous support of those who enrolled at the supporter rate, or otherwise donated to IDHA this year. 

While we had originally planned to implement an 8-class series, we made the decision to end the series early amid a period of ongoing rupture within our Training Committee, the group of members and volunteers that helped design and implement this series. We extend enduring gratitude to all the people who made this series possible, including the Training Committee, faculty, ASL interpreters, and all who registered. You can learn more about IDHA's learnings from this conflict and commitment to centered organizational accountability below.

IDHA’s focus on community-building is rooted in valuing polyphony and multiple voices. Our community-building initiatives not only bolster our training offerings, but allow for more intimate spaces to share and normalize a culture of transformation. This year, we continued to host virtual community events as venues for critical dialogue and support among peers, clinicians, family members, activists, and artists. We also built out our membership program, uplifted curated resources during moments of need, and uplifted member perspectives on our blog.

1,000+

Event registrations

IDHA’s community events are low cost, have a low barrier to entry, help build our member base, and create an environment for shared learning. Our events drew an additional 1,000+ people in 2024, many of whom went on to take our training and remain deeply engaged in our community.

As mentioned above, in February and August, we hosted the second and third installments of IDHA’s ongoing Transformative Mental Health Talks series, Analyzing Power in Mental Health Care and Radical Hope & Experimentation in Care. All of the panels in this series are available on YouTube to aid access to these conversations, which, in addition to uplifting the Core Curriculum, are invaluable resources in their own right, sharing wisdom and perspectives about transformative mental health.

In May, Deconstructing Professionalism within the Mental Health Industrial Complex examined the structures that shape what constitutes a “good therapist,” deconstructed what “professionalism” is and looks like, and offered strategies for care providers to creatively redefine these concepts. Facilitators Ljudmila Petrovic and Daniel Oommen shared key context and tools for those interested in unsettling mental health practice, and addressing other challenges inherent to care work.

In September, we hosted our first in-person event in nearly five years, Sacred Support: Exploring Grief & Suicide through Lived Experience. We gathered with New York-area community at Woodbine in Ridgewood, Queens for a screening and discussion about the short film Smile4Kime – an experimental autoethnographic film that tells the story of how two friends transcend time, space, and even death to find hope and resilience through their struggles with mental health. The film explores the institutional barriers Black women face when seeking support, and what it is like to navigate harmful institutions that are positioned to help. It is also a story about friendship, chosen family, and how we let others in.

After screening the film, we were joined by director Elena Guzman and panelists Allilsa Fernandez and Frankie Dawis for conversation about the wisdom of lived experience in mental health and how to care for those navigating suicide. The event also featured an altar to honor individual and collective grief and ample resource sharing.

In December, we hosted the highly anticipated Mad Studies Symposium, celebrating the recent publication of the Mad Studies Reader, co-edited by IDHA founders Alisha Ali, Bradley Lewis, and Jazmine Russell. The symposium aimed to bring together a diverse group of artists, mad pride activists, humanities and social science scholars, and critical clinicians to explore mad studies as a dynamic field, framework, and movement. The event featured over 25 contributors and offered a rich program that included a panel exploring what mad studies is, flash readings, presentations, mini-workshops, creative performances, and more. With over 330 registrations from 21 countries, the symposium attracted a wide range of participants, including academics, activists, artists, clinicians, and individuals with lived experience. One quarter of attendees accessed free tickets, in line with our goal to make conversations about mad studies more approachable.

Feedback from attendees highlighted the accessible presentation of complex ideas. One person shared, “This was truly a celebration of a valuable addition to the literature, while also being so valuable in its own right – sustaining spirit, feeding intellect, and developing relationships.” The event facilitated meaningful connections and sparked important conversations, with the chat filled with resource sharing and community-building throughout the 6-hour event. We are inspired by the sense of connection and hope fostered by this event, and look forward to expanding the reach and impact of mad studies in future events.

Membership

90+

new members

9

virtual gatherings

Membership is a core aspect of IDHA’s structure that enables us to grow our base, spread the lens of transformative mental health, and develop leadership in our community. Anyone who is aligned with our mission, vision, principles, and values may become a member. Membership is a special relationship with IDHA and comes with a handful of unique perks, such as being the first to know about upcoming programs, receiving discounts on trainings, receiving our monthly member digest, and joining organizing committees when they are looking for new members.

IDHA members have the opportunity to attend monthly virtual gatherings, which are lightly-facilitated spaces to connect with one another outside of more formal committee or organizing contexts. Each gathering centers on a theme suggested by a member or surfaced in the context of world events or current IDHA offerings, which in 2024 included: putting anti-colonial care into practice; protest, resistance, and mental health; self-disclosure of lived experience across contexts; practicing a love ethic in care work (inspired by bell hooks); hope as a discipline (inspired by Mariame Kaba); and grieving through action.

We also continued to send out our monthly member digest, a curated newsletter that features upcoming IDHA programs, organizational updates, surveys and opportunities to shape our work, upcoming events and offerings in our wider ecosystem, and other transformative mental health resources. The member digest is also a place where we uplift IDHA-adjacent projects and events by our members and partner organizations. In 2024 this included books published by IDHA members, such as Sasha Warren’s Storming Bedlam and the aforementioned Mad Studies Reader; the Antinormality Club founded by Anna Fielding; Chanika Svetvilas’ creative contributions to the RestFest Film Festival; and the workshop series Together Love Self curated by Kara Pernicano.

Members who organize within committees also played an invaluable role in the programs described above, contributing to the ongoing development and implementation of the Core Curriculum, our live virtual training series, and the Decarcerating Care discussion series.

Resource Sharing

IDHA maintains a library of essential resources (books, essay collections, films, poetry, and art) on our website to deepen our collective understanding of transformative mental health. In addition, we often curate supplemental resource lists in response to current events, when we discern that we have resources to offer that could be supportive.

This year, we continued an educational series started in 2023 in collaboration with Board member Evan Auguste that draws upon work from Black and decolonial psychology to bring more visibility to the unseen wounds of colonial violence among occupied peoples. The third post in the series draws upon the work of Black psychologist Bobby Wright to reveal the psychology of the genocidal state. The fourth post draws upon Charlene Désir’s concept of Diasporic Grief to help Haitian people ground their emotional reactions in healing, history, and political movement.

In January, also in collaboration with Evan Auguste, we created a resource about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s notion of creative maladjustment. For those of us who contextualize liberatory mental health work within broader revolutionary political struggles, it’s important to recognize Dr. King’s role in radical organizing, both within and outside the system. This resource overviews some of the history of Dr. King’s engagement with the American Psychological Association, and his contributions to radical mental health movements.

In August, in the wake of the murder of Sonya Massey by Illinois State Police, we created a resource that explores the ways in which anti-Blackness and sanism intersect, and how to practice an ethics of defiance in the face of systemic violence to honor Sonya’s memory and fight for collective liberation. While we work to dismantle all carceral systems, we must simultaneously build community-based care networks that uplift autonomy and dignity, and address the root causes of crisis.

And in December, ahead of the Mad Studies Symposium, we offered a resource framed around the question: what is mad studies? Mad studies can be thought of as an interdisciplinary field rethinking mental difference and mental suffering. It challenges dominant narratives, dismantles oppressive systems, and centers the voices of those most impacted by psychiatric practices. This post offers some context on who is involved in mad studies, the core questions it asks, how the field moves beyond binaries and across disciplines, and considerations for the future.

Blog

The IDHA community contains a wealth of knowledge about a range of topics, including mental health, transformative justice, holistic healing, environmental justice, creativity, and more. As part of our commitment to elevate the voices of those most marginalized and impacted by the mental health system, our blog is a crucial space for us to spotlight the voices of people who make IDHA what it is. The blog seeks to magnify a wide range of perspectives on different topics, in turn representing the unique multiplicity and inclusiveness of IDHA’s approach.

In 2024, we published Stasis Theory for Better Discussions of Mental Health Policy. In this post, IDHA member Paige Welsh (a PhD student studying rhetoric and writing with research interests at the intersections of medicine, law and philosophy of consciousness) offers a “stasis theory” frame tailored to conversations about mental health. By offering this rhetorical studies approach to understanding discourse around mental health, Paige hopes to illuminate the different orientations people bring to conversations about mental health, and to offer a tool for activists, practitioners, and advocates to better understand one another in pursuit of their advocacy, policy, or other goals. The  primary goal is to spur complex conversation without prescribing a correct answer at the start.

IDHA’s cross-movement organizing strategy seeks to bridge the silos in our broader social justice landscape and the transformative mental health movement. We organize panel events that respond to current and emerging issues at the intersections, elevate the voices of those with lived experience, and bring together a range of frontline organizers with a wealth of wisdom and range of perspectives.

Decarcerating Care

1,300+

event registrations in 2024

15,100+

all-time views on youtube

IDHA organized our first-ever Decarcerating Care conversation in 2020, in the midst of ongoing racial uprisings in the United States. As activists called to divest funding from the police and some advocated for reallocation to mental health, IDHA sought to draw attention to the ways in which the mental health system maintains white supremacist, racial hierarchies and operates on logics of surveillance, coercion, and control. Since then, eight panels have reached more than 15,000 people with urgent dialogue about anti-carceral crisis care rooted in the lived experience of service users, survivors, movement leaders, and disabled community members.

In April, the seventh installment, The Pathologizing of Resistance, explored how the mental health industrial complex has pathologized acts of resistance throughout history, and how this plays out in the present day. A panel of activists, survivors, researchers, and providers discussed the ways in which the fields of psychology and psychiatry have been wielded as a tool of domination by oppressive actors – and the impacts in current policy, research, and service delivery contexts. We were joined by Idil Abdillahi, Gina Ali, Samah Jabr, Hannah Throssell, and Sasha Warren for a conversation moderated by IDHA member Kimberlee Lalane.

Part 7 was praised for its powerful mix of theory, experiential knowledge, and action-based takeaways, providing attendees with valuable insights into the ways in which the mental health system pathologizes those who challenge the capitalist, colonial status quo. One attendee reflected, “I loved the amazing panelists – their answers gave me hope during a very dark emotional time as I bear witness to the genocides happening right now.” Another shared, “I enjoyed the intentional diversity of panelists. The moderator asked thought-provoking questions that resulted in action-based takeaways that never lost sight of historical context.” The conversation provided a warm, supportive space for reflection during a time of deep grief, helping attendees navigate these difficult topics with a sense of community and resilience.

In November, the eighth installment, Beyond Mandated Reporting, explored the complex terrain that care practitioners navigate, caught between ethical obligations and legal mandates, and the challenges to provide compassionate and non-coercive care while being deployed as an agent of the state. A panel of practitioners, individuals with lived experience, activists, and policy experts offered diverse perspectives on how to navigate and resist the pressures of legal mandates in mental health. IDHA intern Reeti Mangal moderated a conversation with Caroline Mazel-Carlton, Robyn Mourning, Nicole Nguyen, Shannon Perez-Darby, and Joyce McMillan.

Part 8 was praised for its diverse perspectives on the topic, offering both practical strategies for subverting mandated reporting and a thorough examination of the ethical dilemmas care practitioners face. Attendees found the conversation validating, inspiring, and directly applicable to their work. One attendee shared, “I really enjoyed the panel showcasing an array of different perspectives – from lived experience to frontline workers to policy and law.” Another noted, “The content shared was both informed and inspiring. I walked away with tangible ways to begin to enact and embody abolitionist values around decarcerating care as a psychologist in training, both within the therapy room and as a broader social change agent.”

Movement Calendar

In 2024, IDHA continued to strengthen and unify the transformative mental health movement through our Movement Calendar, a dedicated space on our website where we cross-list events from our peers and partners. This calendar serves as a vital tool to amplify the brilliance and diversity of the wider ecosystem, helping to connect individuals and organizations working toward mental health liberation.

Throughout the year, we uplifted events and offerings from a range of organizations in our immediate and broader network, including the Wildflower Alliance, ISPS-US, Mad in America, and Spring Up. Recognizing the deep impacts of ongoing crises, we also highlighted recurring grief and somatic practice spaces, such as the one offered by generative somatics.

The Movement Calendar also continues to be a space to center and showcase the work of our own members. One such offering was Growing Your Wings on the Way Down with Audrey Di Mola, which offered an intentional space to mythically explore suicidality and madness in September.

2024 marked the 5-year anniversary since IDHA embarked on an initial org development process in 2019. As we reached this milestone, we took the time to reflect on our progress, gather feedback, and assess our structure in preparation for a period of transformation in the coming year. We welcomed a new staff member and focused on deepening team cohesion, particularly through an in-person team retreat. Now in our second full year as an independent 501(c)3 organization, we continued to strengthen our internal systems, with attunement to living our values and challenging the limits of the non-profit industrial complex whenever possible.

Board

IDHA’s Board of Directors is composed of individuals with diverse experiences and areas of expertise, including mental health activism, community organizing, transformative justice, financial literacy, strategic planning, and conflict resolution. The Board plays a pivotal role in our structure and governance; their collective wisdom helps ensure that we operate sustainably and in alignment with our principles and values. The role of IDHA’s Board extends beyond governance; they are stewards of our mission, actively informing and guiding our strategic direction. Our Board culture emphasizes polyphony, valuing a diversity of perspectives and voices. We recognize the importance of slower decision-making processes that lead to thoughtful, meaningful outcomes for both the Board and IDHA as a whole.

This fall, IDHA’s Board and staff gathered for an in-person retreat in the Hudson Valley. This retreat, the second of its kind in IDHA’s history, was an opportunity to step away from the screen and reconnect in person. After spending much of our time virtually, the weekend provided space for embodied communication, collaboration, and a deeper connection to each other. Our time together was intentionally designed to embrace the multi-sensory experience of being present, allowing us to make the most of our time as a group, knowing it may be some time before we gather like this again.

As IDHA marked our 8th anniversary in 2024, this retreat was an important moment of reflection. It came on the heels of internal conflict within IDHA and amidst the backdrop of continued violence and grief in the world. Grounded in a commitment to generative conflict and the interconnectedness of personal and societal transformation, our retreat sought to draw insights from these challenges to strengthen IDHA’s future. This time of pause and reflection was essential as we clarified our strategic direction and reimagined the path ahead for IDHA.

The retreat was structured to balance work and reflection, with ample time for breaks, nourishment, creativity, and community building. Sessions included a mix of large group discussions, small breakout groups, journaling, and art-making, all aimed at uplifting the collective wisdom of the group through a shared approach to facilitation and documentation. Responding to feedback from our first retreat in 2022, this year’s agenda focused on fewer topics, allowing us to dive deeper into the most pressing areas of growth and opportunity for IDHA: organizational structure, anti-oppression, and conflict & harm response.

In addition to the deep dive at the retreat, IDHA’s Board convened regularly throughout the year in virtual meetings to discuss ongoing work, future strategies, and organizational sustainability. Board members contributed their expertise through participation in committees such as the Finance & Fundraising Committee and the Anti-Oppression Committee.

Staff

IDHA’s work is powered by a small but mighty staff team. In 2024, our team included Director Jessie Roth, Program Manager Noah Gokul, and Administrative Coordinator Nia Nelson.

In April, we welcomed Nia Nelson to the team. Nia is an organizer, health educator, artist, and activist with a deep commitment to Black and Queer liberation, mental health, Black spirituality, and interfaith liberation theology. As Administrative Coordinator, Nia supports IDHA’s programs and operations by assisting in the planning, implementation, and follow-up of our virtual classes and events. Nia also uplifts relevant offerings from our wider ecosystem via the Movement Calendar, and facilitates connection among members through monthly virtual gatherings.

As a remote and geographically distributed team, we created regular opportunities to connect virtually throughout 2024. Beyond regular work and strategy meetings, we held a bi-weekly solidarity space for Palestine and participated in dedicated deep dives focused on enhancing our collective conflict response skills. These spaces were informed by individual team member participation in trainings related to trauma-informed facilitation, harm response systems, and movement building during times of prolonged crisis. We also drew on tools from Spring Up to engage in power mapping, which helped visualize context-specific, relational, and identity-based power differences, fostering deeper understanding and intimacy among the team. Additionally, we used the How to Work With Me Guide to better understand each other as a growing team, acknowledging differences in boundaries, communication norms, and access needs.

In the fall, we had additional opportunities to connect in-person during our retreat. One of the most meaningful moments of this period was the Smile4Kime screening at Woodbine, a collaborative effort that drew upon the skills and contributions of the entire IDHA team. Noah led the organizing for the event and provided a grounded introduction and host presence throughout; Nia envisioned the grief altar and moderated the panel; and Jessie supported logistics and resource curation. This event provided an opportunity to connect not only as a staff team about a heavy, meaningful topic, but also with our wider community in New York City.

Internships

IDHA interns have the unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in transformative mental health alternatives, enriching their academic studies with lived experience perspectives and the wisdom of our wider community. Embedded within a network of mental health workers, peers, artists, activists, and advocates, interns also have the chance to build relationships that support both personal and professional growth. Throughout their time with IDHA, interns support a variety of programmatic and operational responsibilities, gaining valuable, well-rounded experience within a small, rapidly growing mental health training institute.

In early 2024, we continued to host our 2023-2024 social work interns from the Silberman School of Social Work and the Columbia School of Social Work – Robyn and Jonathan. Robyn served as the coordinator for our Topographies of (Dis)Connection training series, while Jonathan supported multiple initiatives, including the Core Curriculum, Decarcerating Care, and ongoing fundraising efforts.

In the summer, we hosted Reeti Mangal, an undergraduate intern from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU. Reeti contributed significantly to the development of our self-paced course offerings, helping to adapt several courses from the Crossroads of Crisis series, provide user experience recommendations for the refreshed course library, and make early progress in envisioning “tracks” that will connect the Core Curriculum with the self-paced library. This work will continue into 2025, with the goal of having more connective tissue between our programs.

In the fall, we welcomed Sarah, a new social work intern from Hunter College for the 2024-2025 academic year. In their first semester, Sarah supported fundraising efforts, outreach for events such as Decarcerating Care, and worked on auditing and improving our data collection and use policies to better align with IDHA’s values. Sarah also took on the role of raffle coordinator during the Mad Studies Symposium, where they helped organize the giveaway of five donated copies of the Mad Studies Reader provided by the publisher Routledge.

IDHA’s strategy articulates our long-term priorities and areas of growth, emphasizing that our vision and project goals are inseparable from who we are and how we come together as a community. As we entered a new 3-year strategic period, we engaged in meaningful conversations to refine our mission and deepen our understanding of our audience, while also strengthening our anti-oppression work with the support of consultants and coaches. This year, we navigated a period of internal rupture, which surfaced valuable learnings and reinforced our commitment to viewing conflict as generative and continuously evolving.

Strategic Visioning

IDHA’s work is guided by a multi-year strategic vision, and in 2024, we entered the second phase of our planning, covering the years 2024-2026. This new strategy period builds on the foundation of our first visioning period (2021-2023) and was shaped through a collaborative process that included a SWOT and landscape analysis, a review of existing programs, and a careful reflection on our organizational priorities for the next three years.

In March, we engaged in strategic conversations to refine our mission and understand our audience more clearly. IDHA was founded to introduce practitioners to liberatory practices rooted in peer support and mutual aid, with a focus on empowering individuals to enact change within systems. We aim to connect a diverse range of practitioners and offer those who haven’t had access to such knowledge an opportunity to learn tools for navigating moral injury or values misalignment.

A key strength of IDHA lies in its ability to bring together individuals from varied backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. However, this diversity also presents a challenge: at what point do these differences become too vast, potentially affecting the delivery of our programs? Additionally, the non-linear nature of learning and unlearning means that IDHA reaches people at different stages of their personal and professional journeys. This raises important questions about our impact and the most effective ways to engage our audience.

To continue this work, we have planned a series of audience surveys. These surveys will help us learn how we can better support our audience, strengthen connections within the community, and better align our offerings with IDHA’s core principles and values. As we move forward, we are focusing on what is most important to IDHA at this point in our history, what has the greatest potential for impact, and what we are best equipped to do as an organization. These guiding questions will shape our work and strategy in the coming years.

Organizational Accountability

In 2024, IDHA navigated an internal conflict within our Training Committee, a staff-led group supporting our live virtual training series. This conflict exposed gaps in our internal systems and highlighted challenges related to power dynamics and volunteer roles. The rupture required us to engage in deep reflection and dialogue about our processes, ultimately leading to the publication of a statement on centered organizational accountability in October.

In the statement, we acknowledged areas where IDHA’s systems and structures fell short, including underdeveloped conflict systems, power imbalances, unclear volunteer roles, and overextended staff capacity. We also outlined our commitment to learning from conflict to build a stronger organization, with key actions moving forward, such as strengthening transformative justice-informed conflict systems, addressing power dynamics, and revising our organizational structure to better define roles and expectations.

A few weeks after sharing the statement, we hosted an internal town hall for our members to recap the situation and discuss IDHA’s action steps moving forward. We remain dedicated to transparency and ongoing dialogue as we grow and evolve. We also extend our gratitude to all in our community who have held us in loving accountability throughout this process. Looking ahead, we will share updates on our learning and growth at meaningful intervals.

Anti Oppression

Central to IDHA’s organizational development has been the ongoing work of becoming an anti-oppressive organization. In 2019, we made a public commitment to this work, spanning anti-racism, disability justice, transformative justice, conflict resolution, and economic accessibility. IDHA is fiercely dedicated to the continuous learning and unlearning necessary to move this work forward, and we recognize that this is an evolving process.

In 2024, we ensured that all of our public programs included a robust focus on combating various forms of oppression through an intersectional lens. For example, the second installment of our Transformative Mental Health Talks series and the seventh and eighth installments of Decarcerating Care centered themes of analyzing power, navigating power dynamics, and resisting systemic oppression. Faculty and facilitators were nominated and invited with these lenses in mind, particularly focusing on the representation of historically marginalized communities. During the Board and staff retreat, we engaged in thoughtful deep dives on how to better put the principle of “centering the most marginalized” into practice at IDHA.

We collaborated with AORTA to develop a series of community surveys, designed to better understand the needs and desires of our audience regarding programming and inclusivity. An initial survey was sent out to members at the end of the year, with additional surveys planned for different audiences in 2025. The results will help shape future efforts to center the most marginalized voices and strengthen our approach to becoming a more anti-racist, multi-racial organization.

We prioritized accessibility across all our programs, offering ASL interpretation and captioning for every event, while mainstreaming the use of visual descriptions at the start of each session. In preparation for the launch of new self-paced courses, we ensured that all subtitles were human-reviewed, maintaining accessibility and accuracy. As part of our ongoing commitment to economic accessibility, IDHA awarded 62 full or partial scholarships to participants of the Topographies of (Dis)Connection series and 25 full scholarships to those participating in the Core Curriculum.

The Anti-Oppression Committee of IDHA’s Board met bi-monthly throughout the year to provide guidance and support for all of this work. We discussed progress, challenges, and learnings in implementing the 2024 anti-oppression work plan and reviewed the structure and audience for the AORTA surveys to best assess community needs.

We recognize how interconnected this work is with ongoing internal efforts, such as strategic planning, structure development, and harm response systems, to ensure an anti-oppressive lens is applied holistically across all areas of IDHA’s work. To aid in connecting the dots, IDHA staff also received coaching from several conflict and anti-racism consultants, with a focus on strengthening our individual and collective capacity to navigate conflict and design organizational systems and processes that center consent and expectation setting.

A large part of how IDHA grows and sustains our work is through effective communications and fundraising strategies. Our approach to both is deeply grassroots, with the goal of getting critical transformative mental health guidance and resources into the hands of a growing number practitioners and activists across the country and world.

In 2024, IDHA continued to expand our digital presence, growing our Instagram following to 11.4k followers, while continuing to engage audiences via our institutional newsletter and Facebook page. We also enhanced our presence on LinkedIn, aiming to reach more professional audiences.

We experimented with creative communication approaches, such as sharing digestible video clips from classes and events to highlight recent contributions and encourage future participation. Additionally, we saw the impact of generating educational content for social media that connects transformative mental health with current events. Our most shared post, Radical Approaches to Suicide, resonated deeply with our audience. By presenting suicide as a political issue, rather than a purely individual one, we emphasized the need for compassionate, community-based care that challenges oppressive systems. This post – informed by the teachings of Caroline Mazel-Carlton (Wildflower Alliance), Leah Harris, and Ysabel Garcia (Estoy Aqui) – contested mainstream approaches to suicide prevention that tend to center force and coercion during Suicide Prevention Month.

We saw notable growth in the number of unique visitors to our website and the number of people who find IDHA through web searches. This aligns with our intention to reach beyond our existing audience to connect with individuals seeking to reimagine care, but who may be unaware of the many approaches that exist, and unsure of where to begin. Many of these new visitors likely started their journey with a simple web search.

In alignment with our goal to establish IDHA’s expertise in public conversations about mental health, Program Manager Noah Gokul was featured on an episode of Radio Kingston, where they discussed the impact and significance of the Core Curriculum. Co-founder Jazmine Russell was also interviewed on Mad in America’s Rethinking Mental Health podcast, where she spoke about the Mad Studies Reader, IDHA’s founding, and how our work has evolved since 2016.

IDHA’s communications strategy led to increased enrollments in our trainings, higher attendance at our events, and significant growth in our email list and newsletter subscriptions. These efforts contributed to the continued growth of our community, which is more diverse and engaged than ever before.

In 2024, IDHA celebrated several fundraising successes that contributed to our continued sustainability, including a record 60% of revenue coming from grassroots sources. This aligns with our vision of becoming an increasingly community-sustained organization, growing income from earned sources such as trainings, events, and membership dues, as well as expanding our individual donor base. A significant portion of this revenue came from the Core Curriculum, which allows us to increase the number of cohorts we can offer in future cycles and ensure that cohort facilitators are well-compensated for their contributions.

In June, we hosted Brewing Change, IDHA’s virtual solstice celebration & fundraiser, which raised $7,000 in ticket sales and donations. This event commemorated IDHA’s 8-year anniversary and took place on the summer solstice to honor a time of transition and change. The evening featured a panel discussion with IDHA members Jersey Cosantino, Robyn Mourning, Noelia Rivera-Calderón, and Chanika Svetvilas, who reflected on their roles in the social change ecosystem. Inspired by Deepa Iyer's framework, the panelists shared the transformative roles they embody in mental health work and how these roles have evolved in response to a changing world and shifting bodymind capacities. Following the panel, the panelists hosted workshops that drew from their experiences, offering tools and wisdom for putting transformative mental health work into practice in ways that honor change and transition.

Brewing Change also highlighted the Equalizing Access Giving Circle, which helps make transformative mental health education available to low-income community members who wouldn’t otherwise be able to participate. The Giving Circle funds IDHA training scholarships, subsidizes memberships, and contributes to honoraria for experts-by-experience. In 2024, the Giving Circle raised more than $7,000, including many new members who joined in the summer. One recent scholarship recipient shared: “I am truly grateful for this class, and everything it is bringing, divine alignment in my life. I am very emotionally engaged and will continue singing songs of gratitude for this scholarship and ability to attend. Thank you, thank you.”

IDHA was also fortunate to receive a series of foundation grants, including a multi-year grant renewal to support the Core Curriculum. Grant funding provides IDHA with a secure base from which we can continue building sustainable revenue streams for the Core Curriculum and our other programs, ensuring the longevity of this work for years to come. If you donated any amount to IDHA in 2024, thank you so much for your generous contribution. Your support plays a pivotal role in sustaining our work, and helps ensure the longevity of our radical vision for change.

Staff

Noah Gokul
Nia Nelson
Jessie Roth

Board of Directors

Veronica Agard
Evan Auguste
Jacqui Johnson
Sarah Napoli
Denise Ranaghan
Jazmine Russell
Jason Stevens

interns

Robyn Cawley
Sarah Klieger
Reeti Mangal
Jonathan Ng

2024 Panelists and Event Facilitators

Anjali Nath Upadhyay
Arita Balaram
Caroline Mazel-Carlton
Chacku Mathai
Daniel Oommen
Elena Guzman
Evan Auguste
Frankie Dawis
Gina Ali
Idil Abdillahi
Hannah Throssell
Ljudmila Petrovic
Mayowa Obasaju
Nicole Nguyen
Oumou Sylla
Peter Stastny
Robyn Mourning
Roxie Ehlert
Samah Jabr
Shannon Perez-Darby
Sasha Warren