Institute for the Development of Human Arts

The Institute for the Development of Human Arts, or IDHA, is a transformative mental health training institute. We create opportunities for critical dialogue, mutual support, and advanced education and training for those in the field. It is our mission to proliferate an understanding of mental health care that acknowledges and addresses the numerous contexts in which our mental health exists. We are dedicated to understanding not only the role of personal traumatic experiences but also collective ones, manifested through structural injustices and oppression that have deep historical roots in our society. By bringing together experienced and aspiring practitioners, both within and outside of the mental health system, our trainings and events value lived experience as highly as professional training. We encourage professionals and non-professional community members alike to explore multiple perspectives, always prioritizing the agency of individuals and communities to choose the ways in which they understand and describe their experiences. Our primary goal is to equip participants with essential knowledge that allows them to create and strengthen communities of practice around transformative mental health care wherever they may be. IDHA defines transformative mental health as rights-based, peer-centered, and holistic.