Bridging AI, access, and advanced mental health care to accelerate healing

Liesl Leary-Perez spent two decades leading marketing and communications for high-growth technology and services companies before co-founding Axis Integrated Mental Health with her husband, Chris Perez. Her background spans AI, brand strategy, global communications, patient acquisition, and operational scale, but her mission at Axis is deeply personal: make advanced mental health care easier to find, understand, and access.

At Axis, Liesl brings a rare blend of technology fluency, marketing strategy, lived patient insight, AI search expertise, and growth leadership.

After losing her boss and struggling with COVID while parenting 4 children and a full-time job, she found herself overwhelmed with burnout, undiagnosed ADHD and treatment resistant-depression. Now on the other side of recovery, she serves as the voice of the patient, driving Axis to be one of the most patient-centric mental healthcare providers in the state.

Under her leadership, Axis grew revenue 480% in one year, expanded to four Colorado locations, secured a multi-million-dollar strategic investment, and became one of the state’s most recognized mental health clinics. She also helped transform Axis into an AI-first organization, using technology to improve patient experience, clinical operational efficiency, and marketing visibility and actively helps other companies do the same as a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer.

Her work has helped position Axis as a leader in advanced depression treatment, including Deep TMS, Spravato, psychiatry, and therapy. She also created StorySHIFT™, a patented intervention that pairs TMS with therapeutic storytelling, and helped build the 266K Partner Program to expand access for Coloradans at elevated risk for suicide.

Liesl’s work is driven by a simple belief: everyone should be able to access high-quality, effective, and affordable mental healthcare as she did. When they do, our relationships, families, and communities are safer. Axis exists to help people take that step towards healing, combining clinical excellence, technology, and human-centered care to help more people get better, faster.