Neerja Birla
Founder and chairperson, Aditya Birla Education TrustAbout
For Neerja Birla, founder and chairperson, Aditya Birla Education Trust, mental health is at the heart of India’s socio-economic progress and global leadership. Her mental health foundation, Mpower, has kicked off a conversation around the importance of mental health for India Inc.—that mental health of employees is important for an organisation’s overall growth, and it can no longer be considered a stigma and tucked under the carpet. “Mental well-being is not just a personal journey, it is the foundation of a strong, resilient nation,” says Birla. “Our role is to create safe spaces where help is not only available, but welcome.” In a country where silence around mental health once echoed the loudest, Birla’s Mpower has touched over 160 million lives. Its partnership with the Maharashtra government, where it screened 1.37 million individuals across primary health centres, threw up an alarming statistic—nearly one million were identified as being at risk and had to be guided towards timely psychiatric care. Mpower has trained over 10,000 teachers to identify emotional distress in students and offers early intervention. Besides, more than 75,000 students have also received counselling. Birla also brought structured mental health support to security forces across 123 locations, reducing suicidal tendencies in many cases.
