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Game Therapy UK - the therapeutic gaming charity.
YOUNG
people
It's a
Game Changer
'An innovative, evidence-based approach to address social isolation, trauma and aid recovery'.
Therapeutic Gaming for Autistic Young People
One of the charities three main efforts in 2024 is to set up and support new projects for neurodivergent Young People and adults.
We will be doing this in partnership with schools, libraries, other charities and agencies.
For more details drop us an email, mentioning the project in the subject header.
Listen here to Game Therapy UK talk to BBC's Kaye Adams
Game Therapy UK's Dr Gary Colman talks to Kaye Adams on BBC Radio Scotland about 'Session Zero', a documentary by Glaswegian filmmaker Carina Haouchine about how playing Dungeons & Dragons helped her brothers Sam and his pals cope with autism.
Click the link above to hear Carina and Thomas talk about their film, and the positive impact Dungeons & Dragons had on the diagnosis.
Our Volunteers
All our volunteers will be given training, peer-montorship and clinical supervision. They all have a current DBS and are insured under the charity.
Autistic Young People RPG project - online
We are currently developing a national, online hub where autistic young people can safely play 'table-top role playing games' (like 'Dungeons & Dragons') with our trained and vetted volunteers.
From the Games Hub autistic young people (aged 12-25, streamed in age appropriate groups) can log on to play a weekly online cooperative role playing game (such as Dungeons & Dragons). Each group will be for 4-6 (age appropriate) players supervised by a Therapeutic Gaming trained Games Master.
The 'Dungeons & Dragons' style game will be co-created between psycholgists, educationalists and clients.
The aim is to reduce social isolation, increase social engagement, social skills, language skills, numeracy, and creative thinking.
And mainly have fun.
Current online projects
We are currently trialling:-
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2 online groups for age-streamed autistic children in London,
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and 2 online groups for 18-25 year old autistic Young People (in Nottinghamshire and Colchester).
These 'alpha test' groups are being supervised by our Working Group of clinicians, therapists, educators and professional game designers.
This 'alpha test' will be completed by September 2024, when the project will be gradually extended nationally.
Autistic Young People RPG project - face-to-face
We are currently developing a nationwide network of after-school clubs, library clubs, SEN school projects, and Game Cafe clubs where autistic young people can safely play 'table-top role playing games' (like 'Dungeons & Dragons') with our trained and vetted volunteers.
Each group will be for 4-6 (age appropriate) players supervised by a Therapeutic Gaming trained Games Master.
The 'Dungeons & Dragons' style game will be co-created between psycholgists, educationalists and clients.
The aim is to reduce social isolation, increase social engagement, social skills, language skills, numeracy, and creative thinking.
And, of course, have fun.
Current Autistic Young People face-to-face projects
We are currently trialling:-
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4 face-to-face groups for age-streamed children (in schools and clubs in East London, Derbyshire, Watford and York).
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and 6 face-to-face groups for 18-25 year old autistic Young People (in Brighton, Colchester, Doncaster, London, and Inverness).
These 'alpha test' groups are being supervised by our Working Group of clinicians, therapists, educators and professional game designers.
This 'alpha test' will be completed by September 2024, when the project will be gradually extended nationally.
Research
All Game Therapy UK therapeutic gaming projects will be part of research projects. For our Autistic Young People projects we will be partnering with Derby University and Birmingham University.
Our partners
In addition to local schools these projects are also delivered through partnership with:
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