Organisations need to create an environment where people do not have to hide what they are going through: Neerja Birla

When Neerja Birla, founder and chairperson, Aditya Birla Education, launched Mpower, in 2016, mental health was a taboo. When she and her team of two psychologists (now a team of over 400) reached out to schools, colleges, and corporates to organise mental health awareness workshops, the answer was a firm no. Everyone felt it was a problem too personal to be discussed openly. “Those organisations which agreed for the workshops told us to drop the phrase ‘mental health’ from the title. But we didn’t agree. We said we are here to create awareness and break barriers and if we change the name then it would be against the very purpose,” she remembers.  

Over the last decade Mpower has touched over 8 million lives. Mental health awareness and coping skills in India has gone up by 26%, with a 31% increase in individuals seeking help. In conversation with Fortune India, Birla says that the needle has moved, but a lot still needs to be done. Excerpts:

Today is World Mental Health Day and Aditya Birla Education Trust, through Mpower, has been instrumental in normalising mental health conversations in corporate India. By how much has the needle moved?

The needle has moved from silence to conversation. More organisations now recognise that mental health is not simply an employee welfare issue, but integral to organisational culture, resilience, and sustainable performance.

However, awareness has moved faster than institutional preparedness. Mpower’s Mental Health and Wellness Quotient at the Workplace study found that nearly one in two corporate employees was at risk of poor mental health. Nearly 90% said mental health and well-being were extremely important to them, yet only one in 10 had access to an employee assistance programme.

The question today is not simply whether people are talking about mental health, but whether organisations are equipped to respond. This means training managers to recognise early signs of distress, creating psychologically safe workplaces, ensuring confidential access to professional support and establishing clear pathways to care. The next phase should be about making mental health part of how organisations function, rather than treating it as a standalone HR initiative.

Though a few progressive organisations are encouraging their employees to speak up if they have mental health challenges, most shy away from doing so. They mask their emotions because they fear they would be judged. What would be your advice to organisations as well as individuals to manage this better?

If organisations can create an environment where people do not have to hide what they are going through and make them psychologically safe places where the culture should encourage openness around mental health, respond with care and empathy and support help seeking behaviour.

It is also important to build greater awareness of what mental health concerns look like. Workplace pressures, deadlines, and periods of increased workload are part of professional life, not every stressful situation is necessarily a mental health concern. However, when stress begins to persist, affects emotional well-being or interferes with everyday functioning, recognising the signs, and knowing when to seek support becomes critical. Organisations and individuals both have a role to play in making this distinction and responding appropriately.

However, for change to be long lasting, the larger solution lies in institutionalising mental health, so that support is not dependent on an individual reaching a point of crisis. Through Mpower, we have consistently worked towards embedding mental health awareness, early identification, and access to professional care across different settings, including workplaces. Our experience reinforces that when organisations make mental health literacy, access to support and help-seeking an integral part of their culture, they can move beyond awareness to timely intervention. This benefits not only individual well-being but also the overall health and productivity of the organisation.

You not only work with corporates but also with state governments, the armed forces etc. to normalise mental health conversations. It will be interesting to hear from you about how you are breaking stigmas over there.

Our experience at Mpower has taught us that awareness alone does not change outcomes, systems do. The Government of India’s Economic Survey 2023–24 reported gaps ranging from 70%-92%, depending on the disorder. These figures underscore why we must move beyond awareness towards accessible, structured care. Whether we work with the state governments, police, CISF, CRPF or frontline workers, and companies our approach brings together mental-health literacy, screening, and early identification, capacity building, counselling, clinical intervention, and continued care through a multi-solution, multi-pronged approach.

We have seen impact of this approach. Our work with CISF through Project Mann, for instance, contributed to a 40% reduction in suicide incidents since 2020. Thus, mental health must become part of the system, not something people have to step outside the system to seek. That is how we move from awareness to access, and from access to sustained care.

When I speak to organisations about what they are doing about the mental well-being of their employees, they often shy away from talking about the subject. It is either indifference or hesitance to spending on creating an infrastructure by hiring psychologists or counsellors. Is it really expensive to have that infrastructure?

In today's evolving workplace, the cost of not investing in mental health can be far greater than the investment itself. Building mental-health infrastructure does not necessarily mean employing a large in-house team of psychologists or counsellors. Organisations can establish a continuum of care through an employee assistance programme (EAP), integrating awareness, early identification, screening, and confidential access to professional support.

The economic case is compelling. The WHO estimates that depression and anxiety cost the global economy $1 trillion annually in lost productivity while every $1 invested in their treatment can generate $4 in improved health and productivity.

With younger employees placing greater emphasis on mental well-being, flexibility and work-life balance and organisations navigate technological disruption, AI integration and talent retention, the cost of neglecting employee well-being can extend well beyond absenteeism to engagement, retention and sustained performance. The question, therefore, is not simply what mental-health support costs, but how organisations can make that investment work for both their people and their business.