Toby Allen

Toby Allen is an illustrator whose artwork focuses on imagining his anxieties as monsters and therefore making them more manageable. The text alongside the illustrations is a description of the particular mental health issue. Adding a personality to the anxieties made them more manageable for Toby Allen and he therefore shared these on the internet in the hope that they will help others.

This is an approach to managing mental health that is not widely used across the identified charities as well as in the healthcare industry. It could be said that a personal approach from artists appeals to a more limited audience due to the expose that the designs have. On the other hand, it could also be said that this would help the individuals more than more commercial design as it is personal to their likes and therefore there is a stronger feeling of relatability. 

“The project originated from imagining my own anxieties as monsters and finding it to be a cathartic and healing process to draw them,” Allen told The Huffington Post.