Video Game Counseling for Providers
Video Game Consulting
Tired of feeling frustrated and stuck in session with your clients? Are clients signing off mid-session, canceling sessions, or ghosting you? Feeling like you’re not a great therapist and you can’t make the connections with the teens and children you’re hired to serve?
Then let me help you learn the ins and outs of video games so that you can connect with the kids. As we transition to the digital age, play and rapport-building activities have to capture our client’s attention. A simple connect 4 or Uno game may no longer do the trick for the children and teenagers in your telehealth practice. As sessions stay online for months, it can be hard to find creative activities that can spark that connection and therapeutic relationship that you worked so hard to maintain.
To help those clients who’ve closed up or become nonresponsive, learning how to engage in their preferred activity, like a video game or art activity, can help them open up. Video games in session have been a creative medium for my clients to better process their thoughts, feelings, and actions as they relate to things happening in the moment. I want to help you have the same success that I’ve been having with kids in session so that you can provide the therapy you’ve worked hard to master.
I have 3 years of experience working with children, adolescents, adults, parents, and families involved in different settings, such as schools, Juvenile Hall, & the foster care system. I learned the therapy skills needed to address the anxiety, depression, trauma, and other issues that kept them from living their fullest lives. To do that, I had to prioritize meeting clients where they were at, by entering their world and being culturally competent.
Through the utilization of evidence-based practices (EBP), I’ve been able to utilize video games as a channel to deliver EBPs such as psychodynamic, CBT, TF-CBT, SFBT, play therapy, art therapy, and narrative therapy. Video games are simply a tool and medium for us to deliver the same research-backed interventions we’ve been practicing our whole careers. Now we just need to be competent in these new technologies to better reach our clients.
How Video Games Help Create Therapeutic Space
Video game therapy is a novel approach I developed in response to the sudden physical distance requirements and switch to telehealth. I took the leap into this new terrain when the COVID19 pandemic took away the play activities like hiking, basketball, art, and board games. My in-person talk therapy and play therapy sessions became replaced by video games and telehealth sessions. To adapt to telehealth and bring the same spark and energy to the session, I blended gaming and therapy to help clients overcome their initial barriers to expressing themselves to communicate their struggles.
The immersive, artistic, and creative medium that video games provide for therapists, counselors, social workers, and psychologists can help their clients process their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. With the increase in isolation, depression, anxiety, substance use, and other difficulties caused by COVID19, video games have provided an accessible way to find a release from the stressors of the outside world.
Building Skills in Video Games
When our clients reach a healthier balance with their gaming, the world can really light up for them as they connect with others, build problem-solving skills, explore their artistic and narrative sides, and embark on their own hero’s journey of transformation. My own individual and group therapy principles are modeled on these goals, as kids get to build conflict resolution, social, and communication skills at age-appropriate levels, without falling behind their grade level, due to the lack of school recesses and programs.
Sometimes, the use of video games can increase as clients escape away from the harsh realities of the world. Video game habits can become problematic, but in some ways, video games can also serve a helpful and useful purpose. I also work with children, teens, adults, and families in building healthier video game habits so that they can live healthier and fuller lives.
Unlocking The Gift Of Therapy Through Video Games
Video games have been a helpful tool in creating a therapy space for my individual and group sessions with children. I’ve been witness to many closed-off, shy, and avoidant kids light up when presented with the opportunity to play a video game and build a connection with me. With the introduction of video games in my sessions, kids have been able to freely express themselves, build insight, and use those discoveries to make meaningful changes.
With a blend of gaming and therapy, I’ve been able to help clients process their struggles, face their demons, and build a self-actualized life. With all of the success happening in my sessions, I’ve wanted to share this knowledge and help other therapists help their clients work through recurrent issues such as feeling stuck, avoidance, overthinking, low motivation, grief & loss, and low self-esteem. I know I was feeling ineffective, lost, and defeated before I developed my video game therapy toolkit and I want to help other therapists who are struggling as well.
How Video Game Counseling Can Help Your Therapy Practice
My hope is that the information, consultations, and trainings I provide can help you translate your clinical skills over to the virtual world, where you can be as effective as you were during your in-person sessions. You’ve already spent years and thousands of dollars to learn these skills to help your clients. With video game consulting, you’ll be able to authentically connect with your clients and build that bridge with them. Once again, your clinical skills shine through and you’ll be able to witness your clients build the courage to open up to you and make those great new discoveries about themselves.
I’d like for therapy to feel great again for both you and your clients. If you’d like help in connecting the dots and filling the gaps in utilizing video games in therapy, please click the button below and schedule an appointment with me. I hope to hear from you soon!
