10th WORLD CONGRESS OF WOMEN'S MENTAL HEALTH
5-8 MARCH 2025
Official Conference Partners
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH AND NEUROSCIENCES (NIMHANS) CONVENTION CENTRE, BENGALURU, INDIA
Mainstreaming Women’s Lived Experiences
Often obscured in the dominant discourse on mental health are voices of women who have navigated the complexities of living through mental health challenges.
Expertise by Experience pushes the epistemic boundaries of science as the only valid form of knowledge in mental health. When we listen to the narratives of women with lived experience, we are not just viewing mental health through another ‘lens’, but leaning into a deeper invitation to widen our canvas of understanding, and engage with fundamental questions like:
Whose
knowledge
counts?
How can lived experience guide policy and practice?
Mainstreaming expertise by experience enables practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to:
Dismantle power structures that
distance “providers” and “users”
Utilize opportunities to humanize practice of mental health
The 10th World Congress of International Association of Women’s Mental Health is collaborating with the India Mental Health Alliance to amplify expertise by experience throughout the conference.
We encourage practitioners, researchers and policymakers to connect with this expertise and utilise possibilities for the co-production of inclusive and effective mental health systems.
India Mental Health Alliance
The India Mental Health Alliance (IMHA) was set up to bring organisations together to curate knowledge, facilitate learning and catalyse collective impact for mental health. IMHA was set up by Founding Trustees Vasvi and Ashish Bharat Ram, in partnership with leading mental health organisations Amaha and Children First. Inspired by the lived experiences of many of our founding cohort members, India Mental Health Alliance recognizes the need for a robust mental healthcare ecosystem in India. We believe this requires addressing mental health as a key development issue through cross sectoral collaboration and strengthening of capacities in communities and professionals.
Lived Experience at IAWMH 2025
Centring voices of experts by experience, user/survivors and caregivers in the discourse and practice of mental health lies at the heart of IMHA’s approach. The India Mental Health Alliance will highlight lived experience through various segments across the conference. Experts by experience will share stories, bring unique insights and play an active role in scientific discourse at the conference to promote a culture of inclusivity, collaboration and respect in mental health care.
Plenary by Ms Neha Kirpal
Women’s Mental Health: Weaving Lived Experience, Expertise, and Action
Symposium
Lived Experience as Expertise: Centring Women’s Voices in Mental Health Praxis
Growing up as a caregiver to a parent with untreated schizophrenia, and a survivor of suicide loss in adulthood, Neha has spent large parts of her life navigating the journey of bridging mental health care for her family, whilst navigating her own complex trauma over decades.
Through her talk, Neha will invite the scientific community to engage with her family’s stories of lived experience and caregiving and how these have translated into her drive, perspective, and expertise, informing her work across Amaha Health, Children First and India Mental Health Alliance (IMHA).
eaturing voices of women with lived experience, the symposium will delve into the intersection of gender, lived experiences and professional practice in mental health. The speakers will highlight critical reflections from their positions as users and caregivers, through the prism of unique identity, generational and professional locations.
Symposium Chair:
Dr Nandini Murali, Lead, Project SPEAK, Postvention
Services for women impacted by suicide loss (an initiative of MS Chellamuthu Trust and Research Foundation, Madurai)
Presenters:
• Dr. Poornima Viswanathan, Assistant Professor, Jindal School of Psychology and Counselling
• Sidrah Naiyer, Central Square Foundation
• Dr. Kavita Arora, Psychiatrist, Children First
Book Project on Lived Experience
The above symposium and speakers are drawn from Neha Kirpal and Dr. Nandini Murali’s upcoming book project - an anthology of women’s journeys of lived experience, tentatively titled, ‘Mental Health: Lived Experiences of Resilience and Hope’ which is scheduled to be published by Westland in early 2025.
The book promises to be a unique literary landmark which aims to reclaim and mainstream mental health narratives through the lens of lived experiences of women from across urban India. The authors and a few contributors to the book will also be present at the conference.
Experts by Experience will be invited as
co-chair for scientific sessions as well as jury on the committee of competitive segments.
