Leading through loss: Mental health in the midst of crisis

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When I laid the foundation of the Legal Aid Society, I knew that eliminating the gap between Pakistan’s permanent justice would be a great war. Over the past decade, we have faced resistance from a system that is naturally opposed to honoring and empowering people. Nevertheless, we created a movement that legally empowered and influenced more than 52 million lives. Despite all the challenges we controlled, I didn’t prepare me for the moment that I had to look at my team in the eyes and almost all of them had to tell everyone that in a sudden and destructive shock, they were losing their jobs overnight.

The recent US stopwork order, combined with a global wave of foreign aid, felt as if an indispensable black hole was dragged out of sodon, brutality and control. Many decades of effort and the foundation we have made appears to be falling under the weight of the external forces. We were forced to leave the dedicated professionals who put their hearts to the weakest service. But it was more than a financial or administrative crisis. It was a humanitarian crisis that left the wounds far beyond words.

Beyond internal loss, the silence of the people we had to leave behind. Hundreds of clients were now trapped in the courts, their legal battles were suspended indefinitely. How do you follow the crime of knowing that women and prisoners waiting for justice will now face even more obstacles.

Leadership, I have learned, often about your own, your team, and the beneficiaries you cannot help. In Pakistan, women are expected to be stubborn. We rotate careers, families, social expectations and emotional labor, often without a safe place to recognize our struggle. Burnout is worn like a honor seed, and weakness is a mistake of weakness. But true leadership is not about suppressing problems. It is about to visit it with honesty and flexibility.

At this moment of crisis, I have come to explain what mental fitness means me. It is not about power at all costs. It begins to accept my own flaws and understand that I just can’t bear the burden. As women, we are conditional to absorb the pain quietly, but leadership is not evidence. What has helped me is to reach teachers and trusted colleagues who understand the emotional weight of leadership.

I have also learned the importance of having a place for others. During the holidays. I saw a deep lesson in grief. Sometimes, leadership is not about fixing things. It is about listening, acknowledging pain, and merely being present.

Finally, I had to renew the productivity. We are taught to equal the value with the output, but the true leadership is not just about moving forward. This is not just about time but about energy management. My role is no longer just to move forward but to rebuild an organization that can mold, heal and maintain itself, despite the difficulties. This moment of the unprecedented crisis also forced me to rescue the flexibility. At the end of the day, the lead is not about being the strongest person in the room.

We are taught to equal the value with the output, but the true leadership is not just about moving forward. This is not just about time but about energy management. My role is no longer just to move forward but to rebuild an organization that can mold, heal and maintain itself, despite the difficulties.

Author is a Barrister-Law and CEO of the Legal Aid Society