Betty Elikem Azornu, better known online as Miss Elikemm, launched the initiative this May with a clear goal: drag mental health out of the shadows and into the everyday spaces where Ghanaians already live, argue, laugh, and scroll. No clinical jargon. No lectures. Just honest conversation about the state of our minds.
“Mental health is not just big English,” she says. “It’s simply how you think, feel, and act. It exists in everyone, just like physical health.” That framing direct, stripped of pretension is exactly the point. Miss Elikemm wants people to recognise themselves in these conversations, not feel talked down to by them.
The campaign runs through the entire month of May with a different focus each week. The opening week breaks down what mental health actually means in plain terms. From there, it moves into real-talk about the stressors most Ghanaians know intimately toxic productivity, the weight of family expectations, and the particular loneliness of being “the strong friend” that everyone leans on but no one checks on. Later weeks go deeper into specific conditions like anxiety and depression, before closing out with practical resources people can actually use. “I want people to see themselves in these conversations. Mental health isn’t for a select few it’s for all of us under this same sun.”
The campaign lives primarily on TikTok and Instagram, where Miss Elikemm is already a familiar voice. Daily videos, live Q&As, and content sharp enough to stop a scroll that is where the work happens. “That’s where the people are,” she says, “and that’s where the conversation needs to be.” School visits are also being explored to bring the message to younger audiences before stigma has the chance to settle in.
At its core, Mindful May is a challenge to some deeply held Ghanaian cultural myths. That rest is laziness. That silence means strength. That mental health struggles are either spiritual problems or signs of weakness. The campaign pushes back on all of it, with the kind of wit that makes uncomfortable truths easier to hear.
One line in particular has been cutting through: “Your mind is your greatest asset. Protect it like it’s the last 100 cedis in your wallet.” In a country where economic pressure is constant and the hustle is relentless, the analogy lands. You would not be careless with your last hundred. Why are you being careless with your mind?
The name behind the campaign FO NU means “Speak Up” in Ewe. That is the heartbeat of the whole thing. Not just awareness for its own sake, but action. Naming what you are going through. Finding the words for what has been wordless. Asking for help without shame.
Miss Elikemm puts it simply: “Silence is not healing. It is hiding.” And if this campaign has its way, fewer people in Ghana will have to hide alone.
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