“Choose you first. You have to be alive to take care of others,” says mental health advocate Blessing Makanjuola, her voice calm yet firm, the kind that carries both pain and healing. “Talk to your friends, your family, pour into yourself. If you’re overwhelmed, ask for help. Eat well, stay healthy, and build a supportive circle.”

For Makanjuola, these words are not motivational talk; they are survival truths. Two weeks after giving birth to her second child, she began to feel lost. “I started forgetting things and became unusually nonchalant,” she recalled. “It wasn’t normal, and it wasn’t something I experienced with my first child.”

She would later learn she was battling postnatal depression, a term she had never heard before. That diagnosis became her turning point, transforming confusion into calling.

“It made me realise that motherhood is not a journey you do alone. I learned to speak up, ask for help, and care for myself while becoming more empathetic to other women.”

A graduate of Mass Communication, Makanjuola transitioned into mental health advocacy, using her storytelling skills to raise awareness on maternal mental health and women’s rights.

“I believe every woman deserves to be heard, healed, and whole. We need more education, empathy, and support for mothers, both from healthcare workers and society.”

Today, Makanjuola isn’t just speaking from experience; she’s building a lifeline for women who feel unseen and unheard. Her story reminds us that strength isn’t in silence but in vulnerability, and that healing begins the moment a woman says, “I need help.”