From Personal Tragedy to National Impact: Neha Kirpal’s Mental Health Journey

When Neha Kirpal was just 13, her life changed forever after her mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia-an experience that plunged her family into years of silence, stigma, and isolation shaped by the all-too-familiar “Log kya kahenge?” mindset. That early heartbreak became the foundation of her purpose. From building the iconic India Art Fair to later founding Amaha Health, Kirpal transformed her personal pain into a nationwide movement to make mental healthcare more accessible, accepted, and human-centered. Often described as the girl-boss who turned her biggest heartbreak into India’s mental health moment, her journey proves that : 

Healing wasn’t enough — she had to heal a nation In

Today, she stands at the forefront of a cultural shift where mental health is no longer hidden but prioritized—because Neha Kirpal didn’t just heal, she made mental health India’s main character moment.

Today, Neha Kirpal is one of India’s leading mental health advocates. She turned her childhood struggles into a mission to improve how people access mental healthcare. In a country where mental health is often ignored, she is helping change the conversation. After founding the India Art Fair, she shifted her focus to mental health by starting Amaha Health—a platform that makes therapy and support more accessible and stigma-free.

The Turning Point: A Family’s Silent Struggle

For years, Kirpal’s family navigated her mother’s illness in isolation. Her brother’s suicide compounded the trauma. “I saw my mother lose her identity, and I saw my family lose its support system because nobody knew how to talk about it,” she reflects . The experience left her feeling like a “shadow of a person” during her formative years, burdened by stigma and discrimination that went unspoken and unaddressed .

This lived experience would later become the driving force behind her life’s work—but not before a successful detour through the world of art.

The Art World Pivot: Building India Art Fair

At 26, Kirpal founded the India Art Fair, transforming it into one of the country’s premier cultural institutions . For over a decade, she built platforms for creative expression, carving a name for herself in the art world. Yet beneath her professional success, what she calls the “unfinished business” of her childhood remained .

The connection between art and healing was never far from her mind. Years later, she would reflect that “art and mental health are forever intertwined”—both centering around storytelling, authenticity, and giving form to the inexpressible . But before she could fully embrace that intersection, she needed to step away from one world to build another.

Building a Movement: The India Mental Health Alliance

Kirpal’s vision extends beyond any single organization. She is a founding cohort member of the India Mental Health Alliance (IMHA) , an umbrella body bringing together over 250 member organizations across sectors including education, livelihoods, women and child development, and community health .

The IMHA’s mission is ambitious: to “mainstream mental health as a core developmental issue in India” and reimagine mental health discourse by centering lived experience, local knowledge, and non-clinical approaches . The alliance has launched India’s most comprehensive mental health knowledge center, hosting over 300 curated resources including toolkits, research reports, case studies, and lived experience narratives .As Kirpal puts it:

 Our aim is learning, collaboration and impact, without which we cannot achieve a robust mental health ecosystem for one billion people

A Mission Rooted in Accessibility and Awareness

Kirpal sold her stake in the India Art Fair and pivoted to mental healthcare—a decision she describes as aligning with her life’s purpose . Alongside psychiatrist Dr. Amit Malik, she co-founded Amaha Health (formerly known as InnerHour), a multidimensional platform offering therapy, psychiatry, and digital self-care tools .

What Amaha Does

Amaha operates on a “stepped-care” model, allowing users to access everything from self-help journals and digital tools to intensive psychiatric intervention. The platform now serves over a million users across 600+ cities in India, with a team of over 150 in-house therapists and psychiatrists .

The scale of the problem Amaha addresses is staggering:

• Nearly 150 million Indians require mental health intervention

• The treatment gap reaches up to 95% in some areas

• India has only 0.75 psychiatrists per 100,000 people-far below the WHO-recommended 3 per 100,000 

By blending technology with clinical expertise, Amaha bridges the gap between urban centers and smaller cities where stigma is often even more suffocating.

Centering Lived Experience: The Book Homecoming

In early 2026, Kirpal co-edited Homecoming: Mental Health Journeys of Resilience, Healing, and Wholeness with Nandini Murali . The book brings together first-person accounts from eleven women across different fraternities—educators, activists, and professionals—who recount their journeys with recovery and healing.

The book’s launch became a catalyst for conversation. At the Jaipur Literature Festival, Kirpal spoke to a room so full “there was barely space to stand,” with some of the most reflective questions coming from the youngest attendees . At The Hindu Lit for Life, she emphasized the need to “move away from episodic interventions for mental illness and provide longitudinal care” .

“By placing lived experiences at the centre of the conversation,” Kirpal notes, “the book and the broader movement around it aim to create a culture where speaking about mental health becomes both normal and necessary” .

The Scale of the Challenge

The context in which Kirpal works remains sobering. According to a 2022 UN report on mental health in India:

• Nearly 20% of Indian adults (around 150 million) require some form of mental health intervention

• Less than 30 million are seeking care

• One in 20 persons in the country suffers from depression

• Three out of four persons with severe mental disorders have disabilities affecting work, family, education, and other life domains 

If mental health conditions are left unaddressed, the World Health Organization estimates India’s economic losses could exceed $1 trillion USD by 2030 .

The shortage of trained professionals compounds the crisis: only about 0.75 psychiatrists and 0.07 psychologists per 100,000 people .

Art, Healing & the Comeback That Changed Everything

Despite her shift to healthcare, Kirpal has never abandoned her artistic roots. She frequently speaks about how art and mental health advocacy are “two sides of the same coin”—both centered around storytelling, authenticity, and the courage to express what is often suppressed .

Her involvement with dance movement therapy and alternative healing modalities reflects this integration. At a recent Mumbai discussion, she shared the stage with Devika Mehta Kadam, a dance movement psychotherapist who emphasized that “emotional experiences are often stored in the body, and movement can provide a way for individuals to express feelings that may be difficult to articulate verbally” .

The girl-boss who turned her biggest heartbreak into India's mental health moment

Kirpal’s work continues to evolve. The IMHA now includes hundreds of member organizations, creating spaces where professionals can discuss real-world dilemmas and learn from one another’s experiences . Amaha continues to scale its technology-enabled care model. And the conversation around lived experience—once relegated to the margins—is increasingly taking center stage in public discourse.

Her vision remains clear: a future where no family has to navigate the darkness of mental illness alone. Where mental health is treated with the same urgency and compassion as physical health. And where the silence that defined her own childhood is replaced by a culture of openness, support, and care.

About the Author: This article draws on public statements, interviews, regarding Neha Kirpal’s work across Amaha Health, the India Mental Health Alliance, and her advocacy for mental health reform in India. Sources include coverage from ThePrint, The Hindu, The Logical Indian, and ET HealthWorld, as well as Kirpal’s own public statements and LinkedIn posts.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health concerns, resources and support are available through organizations including Amaha Health, the India Mental Health Alliance, and national helplines.