Educational comic books have the power to translate sensitive, or complex topics into user-friendly, inspiring, and engaging resources. Amanda specializes in creative directing, storyboarding, writing and designing comic books for the mental health and social service field. She works collaboratively with clients to understand their vision, and how that can be creatively and graphically translated to reach their audience.

Empathy driven education

Specialty topics include:

  • Schizophrenia and psychosis
  • Youth advocacy and leadership
  • Suicide prevention awareness

Behind the Scenes

Entertainment-education is a type of narrative messaging intervention that emotionally involves the viewer in the storyline, and aims to effect social change - which can occur at the level of individual, community, or society. Essentially, the goal is to deliver prosocial health messages to positively influencing awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and/or behaviors. Other theories that may be helpful in mental health storytelling and production practices include:

  • Transportation Theory (Green and Brock)
    • The extent that individuals are absorbed into a story (identification)
  • The Identification Scale (Cohen)
    • The extent to which viewers identify with a character
  • Entertainment Overcoming Resistance Model (Moyer-Guse).
    • The narrative format increases absorption in the drama, reducing resistance to the messaging.
  • Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty, Cacioppo, Shrum)
    • Immersive engagement making it easier to influence beliefs, attitudes, and behavior.
  • Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura)
    • The most commonly applied theory in the area of entertainment-education

See Example

Using technology to support adolescent mental wellness

Using Technology To Support Adolescent Mental Wellness

The Technology and Adolescent Mental Wellbeing Program (TAM), a philanthropically sponsored research initiative led by the efforts of the Social[...]

The NYC Youth Psychosis Program

Since 2016, my filmmaking company, Lipp Studios, has been making short documentary films presenting the successful recoveries of several young[...]

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