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IMHA

Bringing people together to curate knowledge, facilitate learning and catalyse collective impact for mental health

Bringing people together
to curate knowledge, facilitate learning
and catalyse collective impact
for mental health

Soft launch of the India Mental Health Alliance at the Dasra Philanthropy Week in February 2024 with stakeholders from the mental health ecosystem.

The India Mental Health Alliance (IMHA) was set up in 2023 by Founding Trustees Vasvi and Ashish Bharat Ram, in partnership with mental health organisations Amaha and Children First.

Inspired by the lived experiences of many of our founding cohort members; India Mental Health Alliance recognises the need for a robust mental healthcare ecosystem in India.

We believe this requires cross-sectoral collaboration and strengthening of capacities in communities and professionals.

95%

gap in
access to mental
health care
in India

1/3^rd

of global depression,
suicides and
addiction are in India

~50_mil

children in India
grapple with
mental health issues

17_SDGs

share a complex,
bidirectional
relationship
with mental health

$1

trillion economic loss estimated in India due to mental health conditions between 2012 and 2030

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.

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.

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.

We need to move away from seeing mental health as an expert-driven biomedical issue, and recognise the expertise of those who have lived with mental health challenges

We need to recognise that mental health is affected by a combination of factors at the individual, family, society, community, systemic and socio-political levels.

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.

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.

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.

We need to move away
from seeing mental health
as an expert-driven
biomedical issue, and
recognise the expertise
of those who have lived with
mental health challenges

We need to recognise that mental health is affected by a combination of factors at the individual, family, society, community, systemic and socio-political levels.