Mrs. Akorfa J.V. Akpanya-Hlorvor Esq. is a legal practitioner and Acting head of the Rights and Quality Division of Mental Health Authority, Ghana.

She joined the Mental Health Service (Pantang Hospital) in 2010 as an Administrative Manager and worked with the Hospital Director and Director of Administration till she was granted study leave to pursue professional law programme at the Ghana School of Law. She had the opportunity to work on several committees (both internal and external), in addition to management of the Administration during her period of work at Pantang Hospital.

Mrs. Akpanya-Hlorvor joined Mental Health Authority as Acting Head of the Rights and Quality Division in May 2020 after her call to the Ghana Bar. She is currently leading a working group to establish the Mental Health Review Tribunal, Visiting Committees and amendment of the Mental Health Legislative Instrument 2019(LI 2385) to protect the rights of mental health patients. She also provides legal support to the Mental Health Authority.

Dr Atsu Latey is a medical doctor in Ghana and the founder and CEO of MindIT GH; the only entirely toll free mental helpline in Ghana. He founded the service whilst in 5th year of medical school and teamed with his friends to develop the service, MindIT GH is a mental health service which uses innovation to screen Ghanaians for psychological distress and facilitates the provision of affaordable and accessible mental healthcare to its users. MindIT has been recognized by BBC Focus On Africa, Lancet E-Health Journal and the Social Innovations Journal. Dr Atsu Latey has also participated in some international events which include The 2019 “Social Inclusion In Africa” Event at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington DC, where he was a panelist. He also participated in the 2018 Ashoka Amex Bootcamp for African innovators. In 2018, he was a finalist for the FAIMER Students Project For Health Competition that was held in Limerick Ireland. He aspires towards developing healthcare interventions which would bridge the gap of poor access to healthcare in Africa. Besides mental health, his team also developed a Telegram COVID-19 info chatbot and a toll free short code, which when dialed provides real times updates on the COVID-19 situation in Ghana, education tips as well as the country’s COVID19 helplines.

Ernest is a Ghanaian and a social psychology Ph.D. student at Universite de Paris in France under the supervision of Prof. Farzaneh Pahlavan. His research focus is on the impact internet and video game has on executive function of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He is also a temporal lecturer at the psychology department of University of Paris. He is a co-founder of Centre for Mental Health Research in Africa, a centre with the focus of conducting evidence-based research into mental health across the continent of Africa.

He is married to Makafui, a therapist and they run the podcast ‘the Linked Platform’ dedicated to creating an avenue for international students to share their stories. He lives in Nantes, France with his family.

Counselor Forson, started his career as a junior psychologist at the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital (APH) and became the founding head for the Drugs/ Alcohol Recovery Rehabilitation Centre where he compiled a handout with the title “THE ROAD MAP TO RECOVERY, APH COUNSELLING PERSPECTIVE”. He was part of a group of psychologists that provided counselling services to help victims of the infamous 20thJune, 2010, Agona Swedru flood disaster. In 2011, he was the lead Counselor for the Ivorian refugees that settled in Central Region. In 2014, he was a member of the review committee that reviewed the People with Disability Bill at the Sasakawa Conference Hall, UCC. In 2016, he was a member of the Central Regional Sub-Committee on Risk Communication and Social Mobilization. He is part of the eight nominated members for Central Region by the Regional Environmental Health Directorate to help champion the programme “Community Led Total Sanitation towards Open Defecation Free Environment” In 2018, he was one of the trainers for the GES counsellors in Central Region. In 2019, he was one out of the three main speakers for the Assemblies of God national youth leadership conference held at KNUST. Since 2012 to date, he has been involved in providing counseling services to many drug addicts, rehabilitation centers, and schools which includes Cape Coast Technical University, Mfantsipim SHS, University Practice SHS, Adisadel College, Aggrey Memorial SHS, etc. Counselor Forson, has spoken at a number of Conferences, Workshops, Seminars and Orientations programs for various institutions, NGO’s and corporate bodies. These include; Compassion International, Global Brigade, Vanguard Insurance, GES, Festive Kids International, Federation for the disabled (Ghana), Unilever Ghana, churches, youth groups including Assemblies of God regional youth Camps for Western, Central and the Ashante regions, etc. He is the Central Regional Director for the Assemblies of God Campus Ministries and a preacher of the gospel, who believes that every human being must be given the needed opportunity through right counseling to develop fully their potentials. He is the Author of the best-selling book “HOW TO WIN OVER EXAMINATION ANXIETIES”. He is the C.E.O for FEKAS CONSULT; a consultancy firm that focuses on mental health education/counseling and Human Potential Development and a husband to one of the most beautiful, academically astute psychiatric nurse tutor Mrs. Salomey Forson.

Abena was called to the Ghana Bar in 2020 as a lawyer. She is currently a legal officer at Cape Coast Technical University. As a legal officer for the university, she acts and advocates for the university on matters before any adjudicating bodies and advises the Vice Chancellor on all legal matters.

Angela Kumah is currently conducting her PhD research at the Birmingham City University, aimed at improving culturally sensitive mental health promotion among Black African and Afro-Caribbean communities in Birmingham. Employing a salutogenic, organizational development model called appreciative inquiry, she hopes to explore the subject of resilience within the Black community in relation to culture and mental health, in an attempt to encourage service user input in mental health service design and delivery. She is also a Graduate research and teaching assistant at BCU in the Public health Department. Before joining BCU, she received her MSc in Abnormal and Clinical psychology from Swansea University. During this time, she volunteered in a dementia care home and worked as a placement student in the palliative care ward of Morriston Hospital, Swansea, with the Motor Neurone Disease care team. She has also worked as a community mental health support worker and juvenile rehabilitation officer in her home country, Ghana. Currently as part of her Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant role, she also supports various projects run by the United Community Activity Network (UCAN) a Birmingham-based charity, within her capacity as a mental health professional. Within this role, she provides advice, online resources and deliver digital mental health and wellbeing related programmes, collaborating with various voluntary sector organizations in Black African and Caribbean communities in the city. FACEBOOK: Angela Dzidzor Kumah INSTAGRAM: itz_dzidzi TWITTER: Drbrainy_parts LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelakumah150118