Caretoons
One is an alien. The other is a piece of pizza. What do they have in common? Anxiety.
Our entertaining new cartoons help pre-teens and teens recognize and face anxiety in their lives. With humour and heart, Galaxy Brain and Time Travelling Pizza address social anxiety, health anxiety, contamination OCD, separation anxiety, and more.
Our Caretoons normalize anxiety in an entertaining way. Scroll down to watch all the episodes!
Parents, educators, and healthcare professionals can use our cartoon series to start a dialogue with youths about their mental health. The animated shorts help children and teens understand anxiety and provide coping tools. Read more about using these animated series with youth in our helpful article here.
Questions you can ask youth after watching Caretoons include:
- Do you sometimes experience worry, sadness, or anxiety?
- Does anxiety ever stop you from doing the things you want to do?
- Do you worry about being separated from the people you love?
- Who is someone you trust that you could talk to about your feelings?
WATCH AND SHARE
Even aliens get anxious.
Meet Drexal the Alien. Even though he lives on a moonbase in a galaxy far away, he experiences anxiety just like we do. Luckily, Drexal’s computer sidekick is there to help him with his feelings.
He’s a regular teen. Except he’s a slice of pizza, who travels through time.
Chris Crust the slice of pizza loves skateboarding and hanging out with friends, but sometimes his anxiety gets the best of him. That’s when he leans on himself (from the future!) to get him through his anxiety.
WATCH ALL THE EPISODES!
Galaxy Brain | Episode 1 | Social Anxiety
Drexal is an alien living on a remote moon base, which means he has to connect with his friends and peers online—just like so many of us Earthlings are doing now! It can be tough to connect to other people, especially when you feel anxious in social situations.
Read more about this episode with helpful sample questions and resources.
Use this Caretoons episode to talk to kids and youth with our helpful article for parents, teachers, and health care providers.
Time Travelling Pizza | Episode 1 | Social Anxiety
Even though Chris Crust loves his friends, he feels really anxious about seeing them. He’s so focused on his worries that he wonders if he should go at all! Just because we really want to do something, like go to a barbecue, doesn’t mean we won’t feel anxious.
Read more about this episode with helpful sample questions and resources.
Use this Caretoons episode to talk to kids and youth with our helpful article for parents, teachers, and health care providers.
Galaxy Brain | Episode 2 | Health Anxiety
Drexal spends so much time worrying about being sick that he can’t even enjoy his new hoverbike, something he was really looking forward to trying out! His health anxiety starts to take over, until his friendly and helpful computer steps in. He helps Drexal realize that getting sick is a normal part of life for everyone – even computers!
Read more about this episode with helpful sample questions and resources.
Use this Caretoons episode to talk to kids and youth with our helpful article for parents, teachers, and health care providers.
Time Travelling Pizza | Episode 2 | Health Anxiety
When we get sick, it’s easy to imagine the worst! Rather than focusing on your anxieties about what could happen, it’s helpful to think about the things we can do instead. Washing our hands, wearing a mask, and social distancing are all useful tools. Remember, it’s a normal part of life to get sick now and then!
Read more about this episode with helpful sample questions and resources.
Use this Caretoons episode to talk to kids and youth with our helpful article for parents, teachers, and health care providers.
Galaxy Brain | Episode 3 | Contamination OCD
Drexal the Alien is worried he may become sick if he doesn’t keep things clean—and in this episode of Galaxy Brain, his fear of contamination becomes a compulsion to clean that consumes him, preventing him from his other tasks and making it hard to listen to those around him.
Read more about this episode with helpful sample questions and resources.
Use this Caretoons episode to talk to kids and youth with our helpful article for parents, teachers, and health care providers.
Time Travelling Pizza | Episode 3 | Contamination OCD
Germs and getting sick are normal parts of life. When we get sick, our family and loved ones will take care of us and we’ll get through it. But sometimes our obsessive thoughts about staying safe and healthy spiral out of our control.
Read more about this episode with helpful sample questions and resources.
Use this Caretoons episode to talk to kids and youth with our helpful article for parents, teachers, and health care providers.
Galaxy Brain | Episode 4 | Separation Anxiety
Drexal the Alien gets very attached to his trusty computer sidekick—and in this episode of Galaxy Brain, he worries about spending a whole day apart as the computer makes important updates. He worries that something bad could happen to him or his computer sidekick while they are separated.
Read more about this episode with helpful sample questions and resources.
Use this Caretoons episode to talk to kids and youth with our helpful article for parents, teachers, and health care providers.
Time Travelling Pizza | Episode 4 | Isolation Impact
Chris Crust is so excited to go on a trip to Italy! But sadly, his trip is cancelled. He feels overwhelmed with boredom, isolation, and disappointment. He starts to obsess over the future; will the trip get cancelled AGAIN?
Read more about this episode with helpful sample questions and resources.
Use this Caretoons episode to talk to kids and youth with our helpful article for parents, teachers, and health care providers.
Galaxy Brain | Episode 5 | Future Uncertainty
Today is the last day of Drexal’s long mission away from his planet and now he must return home and deal with change. Watch as Drexal’s computer sidekick helps him express his anxious, worried, and sad feelings. Together, they talk it out and try to enjoy the present moment.
Read more about this episode with helpful sample questions and resources.
Use this Caretoons episode to talk to kids and youth with our helpful article for parents, teachers, and health care providers.
Time Travelling Pizza | Episode 5 | Future Uncertainty
In this episode, Chris Crust is worried about the future (and the present) as he scrolls through his phone. Will things ever get better? Chris’s future self shows up to comfort him, but his answers aren’t that simple: things will get better, but sometimes they’ll get worse, too.
Read more about this episode with helpful sample questions and resources.
Use this Caretoons episode to talk to kids and youth with our helpful article for parents, teachers, and health care providers.
Quick Tips + Coping Ideas
Take a look as Drexal the Alien and Chris Crust review their past anxieties and come up with helpful ways to deal with them for the future!
Galaxy Brain | Episode 6 | Passenger Log Review
Drexal’s computer sidekick tells him it’s time to review his passenger log and reflect on his time away from home. The computer’s review shows Drexal that he’s experienced many anxious thoughts while on his mission, but his computer sidekick has helped him express his thoughts, feelings, and fears.
Read more about this episode with helpful sample questions and resources.
Time Travelling Pizza | Episode 6 | A Peek Behind the Pizza
In this episode, Chris Crust gives us an exclusive look behind the scenes in “A Peek Behind the Pizza.” He reflects on times when trying to change how he thinks and recognize unhelpful thoughts has helped him cope with anxiety throughout his journey.
Read more about this episode with helpful sample questions and resources.
Galaxy Brain | Episode 7 | Health Scan
Drexal’s computer sidekick has created a health scan so that Drexal can check in with himself and see if he’s feeling like he’s in Green Mode (feeling relaxed and able to manage anxiety), Yellow Mode (feeling anxious or worried but still able to manage it), or Red mode (feeling very anxious and unable to focus on anything else).
Read more about this episode with helpful sample questions and resources.
Caretoons, the animated series, was created with the support of British Columbia’s Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, by Point Blank Creative and Anxiety Canada. Acclaimed comedian and author Charlie Demers voices Drexal and Chris Crust.