USA IDA Helping Hearts

Mission Statement: Irish dancers need to not only be in their best physical shape to be successful, but they also need to have good mental health. It is our mission to provide our USA IDA community of dancers with some tools and guidance, from experts in the field, relating to well-being that would benefit them not only throughout their Irish Dancing journey, but also throughout their lives in general.

Action Items: Each month the program will focus on one topic relating to mental health, and accompany this with an activity relating to the topic at hand. The event may consist of experts being brought in for USA IDA’s parents and dancers in order to provide them with insight on the topic. The activities may also include charity donations in hopes of bettering the mental health of the community around us. Along with the activities, the program will produce regular newsletters. These will give more information about the mental health topics and will provide activity information.

Volunteers: The team needs all the help we can get! CLICK HERE to volunteer to help out with the Helping Hearts program. We will ask our volunteers to help out with some projects and join occasional zoom calls! By volunteering, it will allow this program to be more of a group effort in order to make a change in the society outside of and within Irish dance. 

Charity: Throughout the year of charity events we will run, via online or at competitions, we will continuously give our proceeds to the charity of Mental Health America. For more information about the charity, visit https://mhanational.org/. Focusing on one charity throughout the year will allow the program to be most productive by raising money for this certain cause. 

The Team: Helping Hearts was created by six of our very own dancers from different schools in our branch in hopes that the importance of mental health be acknowledged throughout USA IDA and beyond. The team is not here to guide you if you are struggling, only to provide guidance through experts to give you more insight into a certain topic. 

If you or a loved one are struggling, here are some resources available to assist you:

Free Crisis Hotline Number - National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK (8255), Crisis Text Line Text “HOME” to 741741, Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline 1-800-662-HELP (4357), National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Helpline 1-800-950-NAMI (6264)

***PLEASE REACH OUT TO USAIDAHELPINGHEARTS@GMAIL.COM WITH ANY QUESTIONS***