This post is sponsored by the maker of the mental health webcomic Phobiana but all thoughts about it are my own.

Have you heard of the mental health webcomic Phobiana? Well, until recently, I hadn’t, but judging by its YouTube numbers, I’m in the minority. Phobiana is a mental health webcomic by Tiffany Lowery and Oakley Fae that is aimed squarely at the heart of the difficult issues surrounding mental health and mental illness; and because it’s a comic, it’s able to impart knowledge and a positive message in a way that is impactful and entertaining.

What Is the Mental Health Webcomic Phobiana?

Phobiana is a nurse at a psychiatric hospital who has a heart that wants to help everyone. Her interests include flowers, spiders and anything goth. The first episode finds her trying to console a boy after he’s admitted to the hospital with depression. The psychiatrist, Dr. Knight, unfortunately, is somewhat cold with the boy; but Phobiana isn’t. She tries to explain to him why his life matters. In the way she chooses to do it, she almost undermines the psychiatrist’s own message, for which she is immediately disciplined.

We are then introduced to another psychiatrist, Dr. Oddie, who does his best to cheer up Phobiana – even donning a red clown nose.

But the introduction of these characters isn’t where the bulk of episode one of this mental health webcomic shines. This webcomic shines after Phobiana gets home, and we start to see inside her own psyche. While clearly, the patients and staff at the psychiatric hospital are going to be important in her life and in the story, it’s the deep dive into Phobiana’s psychology that really makes this worth the watch. Phobiana may be our heroine and a psychiatric nurse, but she’s not without her own demons. She is haunted by her own fears and insecurities, and these are brought to life in an effective sequence where Phobiana interacts with characters in her own dreams. And while she may be in a dream state, it’s clear there are real-world stakes in play.  

This Mental Health Webcomic Is a New Way to Start Conversations with Youth

I won’t tell you exactly what happens in the episode but what I will say is that you should check it out for a new and unique way of talking about mental health; and perhaps more importantly, it’s worth sharing with the youth in your life. The great thing about a webcomic is it can be sneaky when it comes to talking about mental health. It can talk about it in a way that is nonthreatening to those who might not want to have a formal conversation about mental health right off the bat. Perhaps Phobiana can open the door to mental health conversations with youth you know.

Everyone talks about how we need to be more open and about mental health and mental illness; of course, I agree, but few people have a concrete way of doing it. Well, this brainchild of Tiffany Lowery is her idea of how to approach this difficult task.

Check Out the Phobiana Mental Health Webcomic

Watch Phobiana here. Learn more about Tiffany and Oakley here. And please consider supporting Tiffany’s work. Mental health awareness is something that is usually approached with pastel billboards and bland public service announcements. If you think we can do better, particularly for our youth, then drop a few dollars for her. Her work is expensive to produce, and she does this not because of money but because of her personal interest in this field. The mental health world needs Tiffany and Phobiana.

Keep up to date with the Phobiana mental health webcomic on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.