[100 Emerging Women Leaders] Inside Leanne Pais' community-led approach to tackling mental health

Through her organisation, The Unopened Box, psychotherapist Leanne Pais has a bird’s eye view of India’s mental health landscape. Over the years, she has seen a change in society’s perception towards mental health, pinnacled by when she saw an elderly couple, both over 60 years old, sign up for couples therapy.

However, that was not always the case. She believes most Indians still like to keep their feelings bottled up and don’t talk about their emotional health.

Leanne experienced that first-hand in her family when her aunts felt better talking to her. She also recalls an incident when a cousin had a terrible experience with counselling but felt better and safer after speaking to her.

Coming from a family of doctors, Leanne understood the value of therapy from a very young age.

A trauma care specialist, she has trained in art therapy and inner child work. She has extensive experience in trauma and PTSD aftercare, and is also a certified professional supervisor (ACA accredited) for therapists. 

When the pandemic hit, she started receiving more and more requests for therapy. She believes COVID-19 and global conflicts have evoked feelings of grief, helplessness, and trauma in many.

"During the pandemic, many people and families found themselves stuck in unsafe environments, confronting severe challenges alone. The resulting chaos of emotions was overwhelming, prompting a sudden awakening about the importance of mental well-being,” she tells HerStory.

Realising the need of the hour and inspired by the growing shift in people’s perception towards mental health, the Bengaluru-based therapist decided to train a few therapists and took her practice online. She founded The Unopened Box in 2020 to offer quality mental health services from trained and qualified professional therapists. The startup also facilitates workshops, training, events, and community-based initiatives.

“We are a mental health organisation with a special focus on trauma. Our aim is to help people living limitedly explore themselves, unlock their untapped potential, and discover who they truly are,” the founder adds. 

Sparking a mental health revolution

Leanne believes that therapy requires a holistic approach. Besides offering individual, group, and couples therapy, the startup also organises workshops to learn self-soothing, address men’s mental health, nurture the inner child, and more.

Incubated at IIM Bangalore under NSRCEL’s Women Startup Programme 3.0, The Unopened Box believes in infusing creativity into therapy through workshops on art therapy, clay workshops, storytelling, dance classes, and more. They also help in processing heavy emotions.

“At the core of therapy lies compassion, gentleness and playfulness—a gateway to unlocking resilience and self-discovery,” she adds.

Leanne recalls that in the beginning, the organisation only offered therapy and a few workshops. The journey has also been fraught with uncertainty and doubt.

"But it's through these challenges that we forge the path towards meaningful change. We may face scepticism, but our belief in the transformative power of mental health guides us forward,” she proclaims.

Today, The Unopened Box has grown to a six-member organisation, including four therapists, and focuses on community work. 

The field has also become more gender equal. Leanne recalls that when she started practising, the ratio of men to women seeking mental healthcare was 20:80. However, today, the people engaging with the organisation's mental health initiatives are evenly split, with 50% being men and the rest being women.

They have started holding workshops with young mothers on issues like postpartum depression and mom guilt. They also run grief support groups. 

The startup also runs an online community library, which has a collection of 78 books, with 500 more in the pipeline. These books are used in workshops and are available to clients who enjoy reading. Currently, this initiative is in its soft launch phase, however, Leanne plans to expand it to the offline space, which will include a physical library and host various workshops and sessions.

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“Our hope with this is that parents take it home for their children and learn as they teach their children. Adults learn as they show up for themselves; people learn to feel emotions through beautifully curated books that talk about grief, love, friendship, sexuality, trauma, and so much more,” she elaborates.

The Unopened Box offers its services to people aged between 5 and 88. The therapy sessions, both offline and online, are priced from Rs 800 onwards.

“Working with the community is the biggest part of our jobs. We want to bring systemic change to mental health in homes, take it into schools, teaching, and much more,” she says.

To date, the startup has conducted 368 hours of workshops (both free and paid), expanded from offering a single type of training to 12 types of training courses for therapists and individuals, facilitated over 16 creative experiences, and provided 9,315 hours of individual, couple, family, and group therapy (both free and paid).

Leanne says clients come from across India and abroad, including the UAE, the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, Portugal, and South Africa. 

"We're not merely therapists; we're facilitators of change, bringing in compassion through families in the larger aspects of society," Leanne asserts.

“Through collaboration and inclusivity, we're dismantling the stigma surrounding mental health, one safe space at a time.”