The Comics Studies Creative Research Hub has recently completed a collaboration with the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ) and colleagues from the University of Strathclyde and the Mental Health Foundation. The result was a comic co-produced with a Young People’s Forum of around 10 young men aged 16-24.  Utilising peer research, Men Minds engaged with often marginalised young men including refugees and asylum seekers, young men identifying as part of the LGBTQ+ community, and young men who had been in conflict with the law.  The Young People’s Forum helped to shape and undertake the research, and the stories in the comic. The stories in the comic are based on real-life experiences that have been shared during the research, although the characters in the comic are fictional.

The comic, published by UniVerse Comics (the University of Dundee’s comics publishing imprint) aims to normalise conversations about mental health, and reduce stigma, It was produced in conjunction with comic artist Ell Balson, writer Dr Megan Sinclair, and Professor Christopher Murray. Balson and Sinclair are graduates of the Masters in Comics and Graphic Novels, and Sinclair undertook a PhD on Healthcare comics at the University of Dundee supervised by Murray, who runs an ongoing project on healthcare and educational comics through the Comics Studies Creative Research Hub.

The young men who took part in Men Minds had diverse backgrounds, but they shared some common experiences. Many of them didn’t believe in traditional notions of masculinity and challenged the assumption that men do not want to talk about mental health. However, these long-held social norms about what it means to be a man, and unsympathetic societal attitudes towards young men, still permeated their everyday environments (families, peers, schools, communities and other institutions), often leading to intense shame and stigma. As a result, young men felt alone and isolated in their mental health.

The comic and the findings from the project were presented at the Scottish Parliament and at a series of events across Scotland in May and June 2025.

The project leader, Dr Nina Vaswani, said ‘Our Young People’s Forum have been an absolute credit to this project, as have all of the young men who took part. We hope that this comic inspires other young men and helps to open up conversations between young men, their families, peers and others about mental health.’

The comic is available here: https://heyzine.com/flip-book/225ea28d0f.html

Please share it as widely as possible to help end the stigma around talking about mental health for boys and young men.

More information about Men Minds is available here: https://www.menminds.org/