A Hero's Journey: Supporting children throughout inpatient psychiatric hospitalization using a therapeutic comic book

Art- and narrative-based interventions are an integral component of pediatric inpatient psychiatric care. We describe a novel therapeutic comic book we developed for hospitalized children and young adolescents.

A Hero's Journey is a 38-page zine that can be freely downloaded and photocopied for distribution. The short booklet is intended to demystify and offer guidance throughout the experience of hospitalization, promote interaction and socialization, provide scaffolding for skill-building, and prepare patients for moving forward after discharge.

The underlying foundations of the booklet include: 1) Theoretical sources (Joseph Campbell's hero's journey; Donald Schön's reflective practice; and the principles of narrative medicine); and 2) Clinical sources (collaborative problem solving; cognitive-behavioral therapy, and trauma-informed care). We articulate how each page relates to the different components, and how individual pages can be used as worksheets for practice of specific skills. We next provide suggestions on how best to use the booklet: from arrival at the emergency room, through inpatient hospitalization, and toward discharge. We also propose ways for staff, caregivers, and any child-facing adult to make use of this clinical resource in support of a patient's recovery and reintegration into their community.

Even though not yet empirically tested, this therapeutic comic book is available for dissemination free of cost. We encourage leaders in nursing and therapeutic recreation to try using this resource in their emergency room and milieu settings.