Bringing
People together
To curate knowledge, facilitate learning and catalyse
To curate knowledge, facilitate learning and catalyse collective impact for mental health
collective impact for mental health
IMHA Annual Convening, 2025
Reason to Be
Mental health is vital to the overall
well-being of individuals and
communities.
In India, the current nature of care is fragmented, with stakeholders operating in silos. In addition, it is heavily focused on curative and clinical care, with preventive interventions neglected.
In addition, while mental health is deeply connected with factors such as education, nutrition, livelihoods, and social locations, it is largely looked at through the lens of illness, with wider bio-psycho-social causes not considered. Mental health care also suffers from the lack of quality benchmarks and a significant access gap in quality care.
To address these challenges meaningfully, mental health must be reframed as a cross-sectoral development issue. Building collaboration across sectors is essential to strengthen capacities in communities, institutions, and practitioners working within the mental health ecosystem.
95%
treatment gap for mental healthcare
1/4th
of global suicides occur in India
$1T
estimated economic loss in India due to mental health conditions between 2012–2030
1%
of the health budget is spent on mental health
17 SDGs
share a complex, bidirectional relationship with mental health
45-50%
of queer individuals in India experience anxiety or depression compared to 10-15% in the general population
About
India Mental
Health Alliance
The India Mental Health Alliance (IMHA) was established in 2023 as a not-for-profit Section 8 organisation by Founder Chairperson Vasvi Bharat Ram and Ashish Bharat Ram, in partnership with the mental health organisations Amaha and Children First. IMHA is inspired by the lived experiences of several members of the founding cohort and trustees, and was created to strengthen India’s mental health ecosystem.
The India Mental Health Alliance (IMHA) was established in 2023 as a not-for-profit Section 8 organisation by Founding Trustees Vasvi Bharat Ram and Ashish Bharat Ram, in partnership with the mental health organisations Amaha and Children First.
IMHA is inspired by the lived experiences of several members of the founding cohort and trustees, and was created to strengthen India’s mental health ecosystem.
We believe that it is through collaboration among philanthropists, clinical experts, clinical-lived experience experts, as well as cross-sectoral organizations that systemic change is possible. In 2024, we are delighted to have welcomed Manisha Dhawan, (Aikyam, The Convergence Foundation), who joined IMHA as a board member and patron in 2024.
-National Convening, September 2025
Our aspirations are to
Mainstream mental health as a national development priority.
Facilitate connection and collaboration, towards capacity building
Curation and co-creation of knowledge and facilitation of learning for MHPs
Influence policy through created evidence and stakeholder consensus
Centering Lived Experience Experience Expertise (LEE) in care design & practice, eventually influencing healthcare, education, policy and research
Mobilize greater long-term unrestricted capital from corporate and philanthropists towards systemic solutions
IMHA believes that we need to bring together cross-sectoral stakeholders and jointly build knowledge, invest in capacity building, and remove silos to strengthen India’s ecosystem of care.
To realise this mission, IMHA has created a national Alliance across 33 states and union territories with over 300 member organizations today , including funders, carer collectives, cross-sectoral organizations, and mental health implementation organisations.
...
To enhance quality of care, IMHA is also creating "Manthan" learning pathways to support and nurture a cadre of multidisciplinary practitioners who are committed to collaborative care, shared learning and building a reflective & responsive mental healthcare practice. These pathways provide training, case studies role plays, immersive learning opportunities and an ongoing collective experience to psychiatrists, psychologists, lived experience experts, allied services and social workers. This collective will focus on community practice, policy work, mentoring and public leadership.
To enable collaboration among these cross-sectoral stakeholders, IMHA held a milestone first in person Annual Convening in September 2025, bringing together 130+ organisations from across the country , and we have plans ahead for regional offline and online convenings throughout the year.
Read more about our approach to building Capacity and
Read more about our approach to building Capacity and Alliance amongst mental health professionals and communities here
Alliance amongst mental health professionals and
communities here
Connect
Convene
Collaborate
Capacity Build
Our Beliefs
Mental health must be integrated with the overall Sustainable Development Goals
People’s mental health cannot be seen separately from education, nutrition, health, livelihoods, marginalisation and social justice.
There is a need to expand the nature of mental health care
We cannot rely on clinical expertise alone, and must include scalable community-focused approaches, preventive models, and innovative collaborative care models in our focus.
Increasing the number of mental health professionals is important, but not enough
It is equally important to enhance the quality of training, regulation and practice readiness as professionals enter this workforce.
Mental health is shaped by intersecting individual, community, and socio-political factors and is not just an expert-driven biomedical issue
We need to center and recognise the expertise of those who have lived with mental health challenges.
Our Values
Community
We recognise the existing strengths and unique challenges of communities in developing models of care
Localised
We integrate local cultural knowledge with resonant and effective practices
Lived Experience
We are inspired and co-led by people with lived experiences
Grounded
We are respectful and non-pathologizing
Vasvi Bharat Ram
Founder Chairperson, IMHA
Joint Vice Chairperson,
The Shri Ram Schools
Ashish Bharat Ram
Founding Trustee, IMHA
Chairman & Managing Director, SRF Ltd
Manisha Dhawan
Strategic Donor, IMHA
Founder, Aikyam Foundation
Founding Trustee, The Convergence Foundation
Dr. Amit Sen
Founding Cohort, IMHA
Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist
Co-founder at Children First
Amitav Virmani
CEO,
The Education Alliance
Dr. Shelja Sen
Founding Cohort, IMHA
Co-founder, Children First
Narrative Family Therapist
Dr. Amit Malik
Founding Cohort, IMHA
Founder and CEO, Amaha
Dr. Kavita Arora
Founding Cohort, IMHA
Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist
Co-founder at Children First
Shalini Gupta
Managing Trustee & Director,
Hope and Strength Initiative
Kairavi Bharat Ram
Founder, Typsy Beauty
Youth mental health
ambassador
Neha Kirpal
Co-Founder, IMHA
Co-Founder, Amaha
Mental Health Ambassador
Dr. Shekhar Saxena
Professor of the Practice of Global Mental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Dr. Prabha Chandra
Senior Professor of Psychiatry
and Dean at NIMHANS
President of the International Association of Women’s Health
Dr. Poornima Bhola
Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, NIMHANS Vice President, Society for Psychotherapy Research-Asia Affiliate Group
Dr. Poornima Viswanathan
Assistant Professor,
Jindal School of Psychology and Counselling
Lived Experience Ambassador
Dr. Alok Sarin
Senior Consultant Psychiatrist,
Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research
Vijay Nallawala
Founder, Bipolar India
Managing Trustee,
Mental Health Support Foundation
Dr. Tasneem Raja
Head, Mental Health Initiatives, Indira Foundation
Dr. Vivek Benegal
Professor of Psychiatry (Retd)
Former Head, Departments of Psychiatry, Centre for Addiction Medicine,
Department of Psychosocial Support in Disaster Management
at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences
Dr. Chetna Duggal
Associate Professor,
School of Human Ecology,
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
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