Leo McIntyre was born in Nelson, New Zealand, and raised in Upper Hutt, near Wellington, attending St. Joseph’s primary school and St Patrick's College Silverstream.

Leo worked as an apprentice painter and decorator for the NZPO and Telecom before a back injury ended his career shortly after qualifying. Depression followed, but Leo then retrained to work at the Police National Video Unit in Porirua, where he developed PTSD as result of overexposure to extremely explicit forensic video material, forcing him to resign. He returned to the paint industry, working for Resene Paints, and began studying NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), after which he decided to pursue a career in mental health.

Leo completed his undergraduate degree in 2002, and since December 2003, has worked as the manager of Temporary Solutions; a Wellington-based employment agency that specialises in placing people with experience of mental illness in short-term employment, while studying part-time for a BA (Hons) Psyc at Victoria University of Wellington, graduating in May 2006. Leo is currently the Chairperson of Balance NZ Bipolar and Depression Network, and Balance Wellington.