‘Comics Who Care’ Caption Cartoons to Support Mental Health through COVID-19 (and beyond)

Available for Interviews:
Dara Barlin, a former global peace-builder and specialist in the area of culture transformation in the workplace. She is the creator of Comics Who Care.

‘Comics Who Care’ Caption Cartoons to Support Mental Health through COVID-19 (and beyond)

Anxiety, depression, suicide and domestic violence are all on the rise during COVID-19; and now a group of professional Stand Up comedians have signed up to help address it. The comedians are offering funny one liners for a ‘Caption This!’ Cartoon Contest supporting mental health through COVID-19. The cartoons represent how various households behave during the pandemic – from the worst human tendencies, to the best. The captions seek to help raise awareness of how household dynamics affect emotional well-being during the pandemic, and encourage people to reconsider how they treat one another at home.

  • There are over a dozen professional comedians and comedy writers across the nation who have signed up to offer their one liners for the Caption This! Contest including:  Melissa McGillicuddyDrew HarmonChad OpitzHeather OstermanAlexandria LoveMo VidaSkip BaconCoral BestSami StansJessica RobertsNatasha MuseRich Kiamco, and more.
  • The winning individual captions will be integrated into The Quaranteam Games. The Quaranteam Games offer a hilarious way for households to develop more effective communication skills to reduce conflict and foster better relationships during Stay-at-home measures, and beyond. It’s like taking a course on how to foster a happy home through COVID-19. Only in this case, instead of being lectured at, players learn new skills as they compete in a variety of fun games.
  • The Caption This! Contest was hosted May 18-27 on the Mindset Reset Games FB page and was open to the public. Public voting for best caption will be held May 30-June 2. Best Caption Overall will win the Cush Quarantine Package, which includes: Quarantine Wine, Quarantine Chocolate, an Adult Coloring Book (to de-stress), and Emergency Toilet Paper.
  • The primary goal of the ‘Caption This!’ Contest is to create cartoons for the Quaranteam Games that are so funny, players laugh when they read them. This laughter will relieve stress and help players move through tough moments. In other words, humor is being used as a literal antidote that works against people getting defensive, so they can hear each other better. As a bonus, the research suggests that playing together also boosts the immune system, making it less likely players will contract the Coronavirus and helping those with it heal quicker. The secondary goal is to help people understand how specific dynamics at home can impact the mental health of everyone in the household, and ideally create motivation to try out new strategies that will improve those dynamics in a way that feels lighthearted and fun.
  • The contest is being produced by a new group called Mindset Reset Games. The group sprung up in the height of COVID-19 in an effort to address a major challenge during the pandemic – being forced to stay in the same home, with the same people, for weeks on end. The Mindset Reset Games creation team is a unique collaboration of experts from a variety of fields (i.e. game-developers, mental health workers, communication consultants, grassroots organizers and more). The primary thread that weaves through the collaboration is the belief that the best ways to change hearts and minds, is through fun and humor. The group is the being led by Dara Barlin, a former global peace-builder and specialist in the area of culture transformation in the workplace. The group is still in the early phases of development, but more information can be found at the Facebook Page at Mindset Reset Games.

Sample of ‘Caption This!’ Captions (for Day 9 of Contest*)

*The rest of the cartoons and captions can be found at the FB page: Mindset Reset GamesJust click on ‘posts’ and scroll through to find Days 1-10.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contact:
Jo Allison
PR Managing Editor
MEDIA AMBASSADORS
Success In Media, Inc.
Jo@SuccessInMedia.com

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