Father-Daughter Duo Wrote Comic About Teen Mental Health (Exclusive)

• Ethan Sacks is a writer Star Wars comics and other Marvel comics who wanted to create a superhero for his teenage daughter Naomi after she faced a mental health crisis
• Together, Ethan and Naomi wrote a comic book series inspired by Naomi's experience.
• A book version of the four-part series, A haunted girlis now available and includes mental health resources to help others

Ethan Sacks sat in the cafeteria of Bellevue Hospital in New York in March 2019, overcome with guilt and fear. His daughter Naomi, 15, was upstairs in the children's psychiatric ward, hospitalized with major depression and suicidal ideation, and he was starting to feel guilty.

“Maybe if I had been a better parent, I would have realized this sooner and helped her,” Sacks recalled. He and his wife, Masako, a bank manager, “were completely disconnected,” he says. “We thought, 'Where do we go from here?' »

While he waited for visiting hours to see his daughter, the comic book artist and former Daily News The reporter took out an old reporter's notebook and looked at the blank page. “I wanted to invent a story that would make Naomi want to live,” explains Ethan, 51. He scribbled a single sentence in his notebook: “A girl who doesn’t know if she wants to live is the only one who can live.” which can save all life on Earth.

Over the next few years, this budding idea became a fully realized labor of love for Ethan and Naomi, now 20 years old. The result, A haunted girl, a comic book co-written by the father-daughter team with illustrations by Sacks collaborator Marco Lorenzana, is a supernatural horror tale that follows teenage heroine Cleo as she navigates life after an attempted suicide and fights a demonic apocalypse that only she can prevent.

A book version of the four-part series, which includes a mental health guide and resources, has just been released. “For Naomi, I hope this experience will be enriching,” says Ethan, author of several Marvel films and Star Wars comic books. “And if we reach people and help them through the book, that’s a plus.”

A haunted girl “Involves the supernatural, but there's also a real story that many kids experience,” says Brett Wean, director of writing and entertainment for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, which consulted on the comic. “It’s authentic and positive.”

Cleo's story begins in a hospital, much like the one Naomi found herself in when she was a freshman at Stuyvesant High School in New York. After struggling with anxiety for years, Naomi began experiencing symptoms of depression. “Everything seemed gray and it was difficult to imagine the future,” she says. “I didn’t feel like things could get better.”

When her school learned that Naomi had told a friend about a “daydream” of suicide, a school social worker called her parents. “They said, 'You have to go get your daughter.' We can't let her go alone. She’s suicidal,” Ethan remembers. “We were in uncharted territory.” Thus began a series of hospitalizations totaling more than five weeks, followed by months of outpatient treatment.

As Naomi began to improve with therapy and medication, Ethan realized he didn't just want
write a story For his daughter – he needed her help to say it. “I thought it would offer her some catharsis, but she also has an authenticity that I don’t have,” Ethan says. “Together we could do something better to help than I could alone.” »

With Naomi's contribution, Cleo became a more realistic hero. “I wanted her to be a little unhappy because I felt unhappy,” Naomi says. “We wanted it to be accessible and show that it can get better.”

It's an important message for those who are struggling, says Dr. Vasilis Pozios of the American Psychiatric Association, another consultant for the book. “The story treats mental illness as a physical health problem, in the sense that it is a controllable problem like diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol,” he says. “With proper treatment, people can live their lives the way they want.”

Because of her own story, Naomi was able to provide true-to-life details, like the centering techniques Cleo uses to calm herself, which Naomi learned in dialectical behavior therapy — and she added some quirks from the psych ward. “One thing I particularly wanted to include was the paper spoons in the hospital,” says Naomi. “During my second hospitalization, someone tried to self-harm with plastic utensils, so we only had paper spoons. It didn't go well: many of us gave up and [ate] with our hands!

Naomi also understood the challenges Cleo faces returning to school after her hospitalization. “It was like I had left the planet,” she recalls of her own experience. “And when I came back, I didn’t know what to do socially. It was intimidating.

The climactic fight between Cleo and the demon also seemed familiar: “In the book, there's an external demon who says things like, 'Wouldn't it be easier to give up?' but it's like voices are saying that in your inner thoughts, and it's hard to fight.

After writing together, “I understood better what she went through,” Ethan says. For Naomi, who has just finished her second year in environmental studies at McGill University in Montreal, the book helped measure her progress. “I see how far we’ve come and it’s reassuring,” she says.

Naomi says she hopes the story will share a sense of possibility with readers: “I want people to know that it may not be as easy as you hope, but there is a path to feel happy and satisfied in life.”

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line to 741741 or visit Crisistextline.org.