Therapy Through Gaming

Last year, we at Game to Grow were featured on Paizo’s blog as part of Autism Awareness Month. Some autistic members of our community shared their own experiences learning and growing while playing RPGs. This May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and we’re happy to be back with more from the frontiers of gaming therapy.

In the past year, Game to Grow has continued to rise to meet the emerging needs of individuals worldwide. We’ve broadened our RPG-based services to serve a wider group of individuals and address a new range of challenges. Specifically, we’ve expanded our youth program to serve youth in the foster care system and youth in hospitals, and we have new groups specifically for LGBTQ+ youth. We’ve also expanded our adult programming to provide RPG groups focused on empathy, empowerment, and personal exploration. Our individual counseling program now has even more geek-friendly therapists steeped in the language of game lovers to facilitate personal growth. Game to Grow’s training program has had over 1,000 professionals trained in the Game to Grow Method, multiplying the number of people around the world who can continue to grow with games.

So how does it work? How are RPGs such a powerful tool for insight, growth, and change for so many people?

When using RPGs as a tool for growth, Game to Grow and our trainees leverage some of the built-in benefits of playing RPGs to help players gain new insights, build new skills, and develop social confidence. Below are some of the benefits you might consider the next time you play. In our training program we call these the “Core Capacities.” The next time you play, we encourage you to think about each of these as a muscle. The more you work and flex the muscle, the more you can build strength!

Regulation
When playing games like Pathfinder, there’s a 5% chance a player will roll a 1 any time they roll their d20. As all players know, this can be incredibly frustrating! Because RPGs are so unpredictable, they’re wonderful opportunities to build the skill of regulation: the ability to handle both unpleasant and pleasant stress. Playing RPGs helps to build the ability to stay regulated, even to enjoy the peaks and valleys of triumph and disaster.

Collaboration
RPGs like Pathfinder are games of fellowship. No one character—no matter how meticulously a player has created them—is capable of handling every obstacle alone. RPGs remind us that we are stronger when we work with others and build on each other’s ideas. This is true on and off the RPG table!

Planning
When players are given an opportunity to solve problems together, they can plot, plan, and scheme. This is more than just looking before leaping, this is using logical sequencing and critical reasoning to construct plans based on facts and evidence. (Plans, of course, never go as planned. See why regulation is such an important skill!?)

Perspective-Taking
Though our characters might be, none of us are mind-readers. We have to actively work to communicate and understand the thoughts, feelings, and desires of others. In RPGs, this is built into the game! We are, but also aren’t, our characters. We’re constantly navigating player knowledge and character knowledge and communicating about both with our fellow players. Communicating clearly about our internal state, and confirming our assumptions of others’, is an incredibly valuable skill!

Pretend Play
Something often overlooked, especially for adults, is the life-enriching magic of play. Play is when our imaginations come to life, when we lose track of being perfect rule-followers, and when we become fully-engaged agents of change in our own lives. Play isn’t just important, it’s essential, and RPGs provide such a bounty of opportunities for true play!

These Core Capacities are just the beginning! To learn more about our methods or to join a group, please visit us at www.gametogrow.org.

We also always like to ask players themselves: What have you learned about yourself through playing RPGs? How have they helped you learn, grow, and change? Let us know in the comments!