Benefits and Tips

Lessons learned
Strategies for self-therapy
Decide your season

Lessons learned

Although it was limiting in many ways that real therapy wouldn't be, Zine Therapy was still extraordinarily helpful during a tough time period. I can honestly say that I addressed things I may have never otherwise addressed because of this project! I've compiled some lessons learned so you don't have to make the same mistakes I did your first time trying it out.

Strategies for self-therapy

Disclaimer: 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.

That said... I've been doing self-therapy since 2013 using various approaches. I'm providing some strategies for self-therapy that have worked for me in the past (and some that haven't, in case they work for you).

Note: You can also download a zine version of this on the resources page.

Decide your season

Before you begin, decide your timeline for this.

Unless you've got all kinds of free time and energy for consistent self-care work long-term, I suggest planning a Zine Therapy season before you begin. Figure out how many isses you would like to make and at what interval, and then take a little break before doing it again.

My first season of Zine Therapy ran one year, from March 2023 - February 2024, which was very, very long. However, I didn't start seeing the big benefits until after I had been engaging in the practice for six months. It was around October (issue #8) that I started getting monthly zine fatigue.

Everyone has their own capacity for this kind of work, mine always seems to cap out at 8 months before I need to cool it for a bit.

Given this, for Zine Therapy Season 2, I'll be engaging in a seasonal practice (starting in Fall 2024). In the new approach, I'll do the therapy every other month, but only make four issues a year. Because doing it monthly was so draining for me during Season 1, I want to make sure I have energy to do other stuff too.