The India Mental Health Alliance (IMHA), the country’s first pan-India cross-sectoral body for mental health, hosted its inaugural National Convening today in New Delhi. With a growing network of 220 member organisations in its first year, the Alliance has emerged as a nationwide force, bringing together mental health organisations, philanthropists, lived experience collectives, and community organisations to transition India’s mental health landscape from fragmented silos to a cohesive ecosystem. The mental health crisis is national and urgent: over 200 million Indians have diagnosed mental health conditions and receive no adequate treatment, leading to a treatment gap as high as 95% in some areas. This impact goes beyond individuals to families, communities, and even affects our national economy. The estimated economic losses for India, if mental health conditions are left unaddressed, are expected to exceed 1 trillion USD by 2030.
IMHA is actively leading efforts to convene organisations for greater collective impact, building bridges between sectors to address mental health holistically, and catalysing the mental health sector to build capacity amongst healthcare professionals, systems and institutions. The first national convening featured rich discussions spanning adolescent wellbeing, climate change and mental health, financing models, and community care, with panellists from organisations such as SNEHA, SIMHA, Ekjut, Salaam Baalak Trust, and Youth Ki Awaaz.
A central highlight was a panel on Embedding Lived Experience Expertise, which underscored how people with first-hand experience of mental health conditions can help shape India’s care systems – influencing service delivery, organisational design, capacity building, and national policy. Additionally, IMHA partnered with the launch of India’s first-ever anthology of lived experience narratives of women leaders across sectors: Homecoming: Mental Health Journeys of Resilience, Healing & Wholeness, co-authored by IMHA founding cohort member Neha Kirpal.
Esteemed speakers included Raj Mariwala, Rohini Nilekani, Neerja Birla, Pheroza Godrej, Dr Prabha Chandra and Ashish Dhawan, alongside IMHA’s founding cohort members. The convening also underscored the urgent funding gap in mental health. It explored the role of private philanthropy in building a robust mental health ecosystem in India. Philanthropic capital is essential for catalysing cross-sectoral collaborations, creating knowledge assets and building capacities for mental healthcare professionals and systems.
IMHA also launched India’s most robust Knowledge Centre for Mental Health today —a dynamic platform designed to make mental health knowledge accessible, searchable, and actionable. The centre currently hosts over 300 curated resources, including toolkits, research reports, case studies, policy briefs, thematic studies, and lived experience narratives, available across a wide range of formats such as podcasts, blogs, manuals, stories, posters, documentaries, and academic articles. More than just a library, it is envisioned as a space for shared learning and collective action.
Neha Kirpal, Founding Cohort Member of IMHA, said, “In just one year, IMHA has grown from a shared conviction to a driving force by bringing together over 220 member organisations. This reflects the urgent and widely felt need for collaboration, and the cross-sectoral readiness to move the needle on systemic change for mental healthcare. Our aim is learning, collaboration and impact, without which we cannot achieve a robust mental health ecosystem for one billion people. Today’s convening is a clarion call for collaborators, funders, and organisations to join us towards this critical developmental goal.”
IMHA is advancing a community-centred, developmental approach to mental healthcare. A core part of this effort is capacity building, with programmes that have already trained over 2,000 people across 100+ cities. IMHA’s capacity-building model is rooted in shared learning, reflective spaces, and care that integrates both clinical expertise and the lived experience of individuals and communities. Flagship initiatives include The Therapist’s Compass—a training programme for early-career psychologists, the Neuro-Dramatic Play Programme—a play-based training for psychologists and educators, and soon to launch an early career psychiatrists training programme later this year.
Vasvi Bharat Ram, Joint Vice Chairperson, The Shri Ram Schools and Founding Trustee, IMHA, added, “Our goal is to mainstream mental health as a core developmental issue in India and recognise it as an essential dimension across sectors, influence national policy and secure the unrestricted funding needed to do the foundational work required. I’m deeply grateful for the growing base of philanthropists making commitments towards mental health- specially Manisha Dhawan of Convergence Foundation and Pheroza Godrej of Raika Godrej Family Trust who have joined us recently. We need more partners, collaborators, and funders who, I hope, will join us in this worthwhile journey to create a robust mental healthcare ecosystem in India.”
As India’s mental health movement shifts from silos to systems thinking, IMHA stands at the forefront– not as a single organisation, but as a living alliance of voices, values, and visions. For professionals, it is a space to learn, lead and lean on each other. For mental health delivery and community organisations, it offers partnerships and the power of scale. For funders and institutions, it is a platform that represents the breadth and diversity of India’s mental health ecosystem– one that has started to build out the possibilities of collaborative care.