Creating a new you: Using character creation and comics for identity development in queer neurodivergent adolescents

This paper examines the clinical application of character and comic creation with Queer neurodivergent youth with the focus on identity development within a group setting. The curriculum workbook is built on research including adolescent development, personality development, and inclusions of geek interests in its approach. The workbook includes character templates where participants can rate their characters skills and qualities on a 1-10 scale for strength or importance and comic interventions to encourage identity exploration. The curriculum workbook includes four main topics focusing on the actual self, the ideal self, narrative therapy through comics, and a final group project where small groups work to write and draw their own comics involving overcoming a problem. Further research is needed to examine character creation beyond current use in video games or virtual spaces, as well as continue to explore geek interests within clinical applications.