Tony Weaver, Jr., founder of Weird Enough, describes himself first as a mental health advocate who uses narrative—especially comics—to help young people build a sense of self rooted in joy and agency. A suicide survivor who attempted at age 11, Weaver traces his approach to the reliability of stories that “show up” for kids over time when real-life support is inconsistent. Weird Enough’s work has evolved from film-plus-curriculum workshops to a comics-first model that aligns with how young people already consume stories.

Weaver’s central argument is that youth mental health cannot be race-blind. He rejects definitions of “wellness” that ignore how racism shapes a child’s daily reality—pointing to disparities in discipline, adultification, and the pressure Black children feel to manage adults’ perceptions to stay safe. He also critiques the way philanthropy forces mental health into linear, chart-friendly metrics and school-based constraints that can dilute what’s meaningful. Instead, he pushes for an agency-centered view of wellness: a mentally well child can observe what they feel and why, name cause-and-effect in their environment, and make choices that protect their joy—even when systems aren’t designed to support that.

Weird Enough’s approach includes:

• Using comics and narrative art to make identity, agency, and self-understanding accessible to youth.
• Embedding mental health skill-building inside engaging literacy content rather than “mental health programs” alone.
• Treating race as foundational to wellness by designing interventions that reflect lived realities, not race-neutral ideals.
• Focusing on agency and self-observation (“what do you feel and why?”) as core mental health competencies.
• Building school-usable tools (platforms, lesson plans, standards alignment) to reach youth at scale.
• Teaching media literacy as a mental health issue—helping youth analyze incentives, misinformation, and online harms while engaging with online community benefits.

Limitations remain. Weaver describes a structural squeeze: schools are the default route to scale, but they are time-poor and standards-driven, forcing interventions to masquerade as literacy products to earn classroom minutes. He also argues that mainstream funding is shaped by pedigree and measurement demands that small, innovative organizations can’t meet, creating a “tight circle” where brand-name institutions are resourced while others must prove impact with minimal runway.