By definition, “emotional baggage” is concealed. A collection of past hurts, stresses and anxieties that response such as “I’m fine” hide from others. Agency, Schbang, for Arditya Birla Education Trust’s mental health service provider, Mpower, has turned this into an impactful mental health campaign, #UnpackTheBaggage, using a backpack as metaphor for emotional baggage and showing how mental health struggles can build over time.

The film tells the story of a man’s life from childhood. He packs a fragment from each negative experience through his life into a backpack, making it heavier and heavier over time. Ultimately the strap breaks.

The film closes with the line, You don’t know how much you carry until you open it all up, continuing Mpower’s work to bridge the gap between mental health awareness and help-seeking, encouraging young people to recognise that seemingly small moments of hurt, rejection and conflict can cause lasting emotional scars, and to consider taking the first step towards seeking support.

Behind the film is Mpower’s Unpack Your Emotional Baggage survey, that studied young adults aged 18 to 25 across India, showing that 49.5% of young adults hide difficult emotions and try to handle them alone, while only 9.2% have sought professional mental health help.