
Education Through Art
Art gives us creative freedom to experiment and express issues in a way that can hopefully reach our audiences. Amanda believes mental health is both an art and a science. One sociological approach is called "Entertainment-Education", which is a type of messaging intervention that emotionally involves the viewer and aims to effect social change. For instance, how do we raise awareness and change perceptions about people with schizophrenia and their experience hearing voices?
Amanda's team specializes in complex topics like:
- Schizophrenia & psychosis
- Suicide prevention
- LGBTQ+ awareness
- Youth leadership

Translating Complex Topics
For example, people who hear voices may identify as 'Voice Hearers' or have the diagnosis of schizophrenia or psychosis. There is often a lot of social stigma and misconceptions about these experiences. It varies by culture and individual, so context and audience is key. In this example, we used voice bubbles with different colors to represent both 'good' and 'bad' voices.

Production Process:
Creating graphic novels or comic books is similar to making a film!
- Kick-off: discuss vision, goals, audience, scope of work, budget
- Pre-production: draft storyboards, identify/prep interviews, marketing strategy
- Production: conduct interviews, onsite audio-visual recording
- Post-production: media management, editing, color grading, sound design, review & approval rounds
- Promotion: promote films across platforms & parters to reach goals & audiences
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Drew’s Story With Schizophrenia
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The NYC Youth Psychosis Program
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