Zines have a long history of bringing communities together, and a recent installment of this tale comes from the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Northwest Group #1. 

Zines, or self-published mini-magazines, have been an important method of communication for various subcultures ranging from science fiction fans to artists to poets to political activists. Frequently made using nothing more than a copy machine, zines are easy to make and distribute.

These zines, created as part of Group #1’s “Zines for Teens” project, are also focused on making connections - specifically, connecting teenagers struggling with mental health issues to the resources they need to grow and thrive. 

Leadership Northwest is an annual program run by the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce that takes place between October and June and aims to help develop leadership skills among Northwest Connecticut residents. Participants in the course are divided into groups, each of which will plan a service project designed to address a community need in Northwest Connecticut. 

Group #1, made up of Dan Santorso from Fish NWCT, Katie Connolly from Northwest Community Bank, Lauren Pristo from McCall Center for Behavioral Health, Pamela Tino from Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, and Ruby Swartz from BD, decided to try and tackle teen mental health. 

Pandemic-related disruptions in community and educational activities have been hard on many teenagers, making it difficult for them to maintain healthy social support networks and to access mental health care that they may need. 

The project group decided that zines, which could be made inexpensively and circulated widely, may be an engaging way of helping to fill those gaps - especially, they reasoned, if the zines were made by other teens. 

After securing sponsorship for the project from BD, Northwest Community Bank, and NWCT Arts Council, the group sought out teenagers from local schools to design the zines. Charles DaCunha from Shepaug Valley High School, Alexandra Baez from Torrington High School, Jordan Elliott from the Gilbert School, and Matthew Vinisko from Litchfield High School were all paid to design covers and art for zines covering mental wellness, healthy eating, depression and anxiety, and suicide prevention. 

“We discovered that teenagers would be more willing to read and learn when other teenagers are involved,” reads a statement from Group #1’s promotion of the project. By encouraging peer-to-peer learning and communication, they hope that these zines will do more to educate teenagers on the resources that are available to them than more formal and traditional methods like flyers and pamphlets. 

“We were happy to support this project because art is such a powerful tool for helping teenagers feel connected. We were excited to see that the artists were paid for their work, and very impressed by the quality of the results,” says Steph Burr, Executive Director of the Northwest Connecticut Arts Council.

The zines themselves are bright, colorful, and expressive, showcasing the different art styles of the student artists involved in the project. The messaging is simple and effective in letting young people know what resources are available to them. Each zine takes only one piece of copy paper to make. 

Helping teens to cope with mental health issues has been and will continue to be a complicated issue. Creative approaches like Zines for Teens are needed as our community continues to find new ways to make sure that young people have the resources they need to meet the challenges they face in our changing world.