Hats off, Lizette

I am Lizette Beri, a Brain Coach, Licensed counselor with Ghana Psychology Council and the founder of Brain fitness center Africa; a firm that equips people with mental skills to help them maximize their potential. I am an Alumna of YALI (Young African Leaders initiative), Peter Drucker Challenge 2019 with a winning essay on Polymath mindset and Africa Tech festival. Last year, I submitted a project that was published by MIT SOLVE on Mental Care for rare disease patients. In 2016, I experienced a medical mishap starting from a misdiagnosis to other complications that led to 3 major surgeries and the resection of my intestines. My Ileum was completely extracted leaving me with intestinal failure and short bowel syndrome. A life with SBS means low food absorption, less energy, pain and more but thanks to my knowledge on mindfulness, I have been resilient and pushful to get myself out of the misery and to start living again. This experience thought me that anything we put our minds on is possible. One other thing I noticed was that during that time of physical pain, I became mentally affected too and if I had mental care, it would have been a lot easier to heal. I founded BFC Africa afterwards to help people get mental care when they need it. I am committed to helping African Youths build mental toughness to put away distractions and focus on their purpose all while taking care of their mental health. One of my top projects is MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID GHANA, sponsored by CONTRIBYOUTE. It is a dedicated helpline for university students offering anonymous and professional help for free. For over a year now, the project has reached hundreds of students from various campuses around Ghana. On the 29th of March 2025, we were invited to share the project with students of NIIT JIT Campus ( Johnson Institute of Technology) Accra. The graduate school of the University of Ghana has also sent us an invitation to be the guest speaker at their Mental health awareness week in the month of May. My team and I are determined to get as many campuses as possible involved in this project.