Comics, as an important part of popular culture, can be useful – by immersing ourselves in the fate of the characters – to combat intrusive thoughts or when we need to calm down in stressful situations. They can also inspire reflection and creativity. Their creation can be an interesting way of expressing feelings, thoughts, fears. So they can be a great starting point for reflection, for changing one’s own behaviour or beliefs, for finding motivation, for introspection.
Testing the creation of comics, and therefore the use of art and storytelling as tools to help combat mental health stereotypes, was an extremely important part of the second meeting of the Breaking Taboos project partners, which was organised in Saint-Nazaire, France, from 16 to 18 April 2024.
The project partners discussed the project outcomes developed so far (we will soon share the inspiring publication ‘Face your mind’), but first of all worked on further outcomes including the creation of sample comics containing stories showing how damaging mental health stereotypes can be and how stigma and misinformation can be tackled.
Wenancjusz Ochmann and Ewa Grynicka participated in the meeting as representatives of ARTeria.