About/ Why

Why I started Zine Therapy
Why I am sharing it
Who wrote this

Why I started Zine Therapy

In 2022, my therapist broke up with me, claiming that I had the tools, resources, and willpower to maintain a path forward with the skills we learned during our time together. (She was half right, but I was not ready.)

A good friend suggested self-therapy to replace those monthly external appointments: once a month, I could have a dedicated check-in where I write, talk (to myself), reflect, work through issues I've been thinking about lately, and research possible solutions. There are plenty of mental health resources to do some of the surface level things solo.

That's when I came up with Zine Therapy. I made a template for myself (this evolved over time) and once a month I filled it out, then made a zine about it. I sold it on Gumroad at first with the statement that my reader would be reading about my thought process, but maybe it'll provide perspective for things going on in your life? Perhaps you're interested as you'll find a list of questions you can ask yourself to reflect and journal. I'm happy to receive postcards with input or advice. After the third issue I took them down because I felt like I couldn't dig deeply enough if I was also immediately sharing it.

(I have an expiration date for keeping things personal, which is why I waited a few months after my first year of Zine Therapy to share about it.)

Why I am sharing it

I want to share these thoughts, experiences, and ideas for methods of reflection/self-care and show how they can be used with examples.

Therapy is expensive!

I did this for a year and it really helped me process a lot without the assistance of a professional advocate. Therapy is not cheap and can be hard to get into. I’m offering this as "yet another" resource you may stumble upon on the web, which may or may not be useful or helpful.

I am not a professional therapist and I don’t have a degree, training, or the necessary credentials to help people 1-1. This is a peer-to-peer knowledge resource. I am not available for personal mentorship or mental health assistance.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you how you can improve - that is an individual journey! Instead, I’m providing a template/idea that I used which worked pretty well for me with the hope that it may help someone else too.

I encourage you to change it based on what YOU need and do this exploration on your own! Or you can use my suggestions to get you started, then modify it later to what you need. Or you can print everything and cut it all up and glue the pieces in your art journal! Do what you need to do for you!

Who am I, anyway?

I am 40, they/them, and my name is Max. I work as a documentation specialist on a support team at an edtech company. I was depressed for most of my life and didn't get a real handle on things until my 30s. I'm still learning how to live and refining how I want to live.

I have a movement disorder called essential tremor (my hands, legs, head, and voice shake) which gets worse as I age. I'm kind of a loner (Dottie, a rebel) so I spend a lot of time alone, but I love doing things quietly so it works out well for me.

I'm highly introspective, love horror & fantasy, am spooky all year, and I have a perfect cat named Zenny. Single, no kids, great social community with lots of wonderful people after years of work on boundaries and level-setting.