FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
White River Junction, Vermont, October 5, 2020 – When the team responsible for addressing the needs of local young people at Stark County Mental Health & Addiction Recovery (StarkMHAR) was looking for innovative ways to engage and educate middle and high school students, The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) in Vermont came up as a potential partner. CCS had recently found a way to make government and civics lessons appealing through a comic book, and StarkMHAR thought that could certainly translate to mental health topics, too.
The connection was made, and before long mental health experts, educators, and cartoonists were all collaborating. Let’s Talk About It: A Graphic Guide To Mental Health is a 24-page comic that will be distributed to every middle school student in Stark County, Ohio and will be available for free online at cartoonstudies.org/mentalhealth.
Let’s Talk About It: A Graphic Guide To Mental Health is designed to destigmatize the conversation around mental health addressing everything from stress to anxiety to addiction. The book also looks at how the brain affects behavior, shares ways to stay mentally healthy, and directs readers towards resources for those who need help.
The comic’s lead cartoonist, Cara Bean, is also a former public school teacher and is currently working on a graphic novel that speaks directly to kids about mental health. The piece was edited by cartoonist and CCS director James Sturm who was recently awarded a 2020-21 Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard University to create a comics about the US healthcare system “Cartooning is an ideal medium to connect with younger readers and Cara’s work brims with empathy and warmth,” says Sturm. “She literally creates an inviting space to learn about mental health.”
Although this project was underway prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for creative ways to interact with young people about their mental health is paramount at this time. In general, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 7.1% of children aged 3-17 years have diagnosed anxiety and 3.2% of children aged 3-17 years have diagnosed depression. Furthermore, Stark County, Ohio experienced a youth suicide cluster in 2017-2018; 13 young people lost their lives to suicide.
“Research will tell you that when young people themselves gain an interest in solutions to problems that affect them and their peers, that is when you start to see meaningful change,” said John Aller, PCC, LICDC, executive director of StarkMHAR.
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For more information about this Applied Cartooning project visit: cartoonstudies.org/mentalhealth
For more information about Cara Bean’s work visit: carabeancomics.com
For more information about CCS’s democracy comic visit: cartoonstudies.org/democracy
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
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ABOUT STARK COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH & ADDICTION RECOVERY (StarkMHAR)
A multi-faceted county behavioral health board comprised of expert professionals, dedicated volunteers and concerned community leaders, Stark County Mental Health & Addiction Recovery (StarkMHAR) believes in hope, wellness and recovery for everyone. To accomplish this vision, the mission of StarkMHAR is to support wellness and recovery through innovation in funding, collaboration, education and advocacy. StarkMHAR is empowered by the State of Ohio to plan, develop, fund, manage and evaluate community-based mental health and addiction services. Federal, state and local funds are utilized to ensure mental health and addiction prevention, treatment and recovery support services are available to individuals and families in Stark County. For more information visit https://starkmhar.org/
ABOUT THE CENTER FOR CARTOON STUDIES (CCS)
The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit college and studio. Drawing upon the talent from our faculty, fellows, students, alumni, and visiting artists, CCS has produced a series of multi Eisner Award-winning graphic biographies about iconic historical figures (Little, Brown) and The Cartoonist Veteran project (funded by the NEA). At CCS, comics are created to help us understand our community, our world, and ourselves. cartoonstudies.org
Tags: Let's Talk About It
