Overview: Therapeutic Role-playing Games
Welcome to our unit on therapeutic role-playing games! These types of games are designed for a therapeutic purpose or to help participants develop social skills under the direction of trained mental health professionals.
In this Unit, we will cover:
- Psychology and role-playing games
- Therapeutic approaches to role-playing games
- Counselling skills and facilitation
- “Yes, and…” improv technique
Note: Some of the materials below may not be available outside of this course. We have linked resources that are open access. Do not distribute PDFs.
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Required materials:
Readings:
- Diakolambrianou, Elektra, Sarah Lynne Bowman, Simon Brind, Josefin Westborg, and Kjell Hedgard Hugaas. In review. “Chapter 3: Theory, Central Concepts, and Inspirational Materials.” In Transformative Role-playing Game Design, edited by Sarah Lynne Bowman, Elektra Diakolambrianou, and Simon Brind, 66-110. Transformative Play Research Series. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Uppsala University Press.
Videos:
- Mometrix Academy. 2017. “Counselor: Basic Skills of a Counselor.” YouTube, October 11.
- New World Magischola. 2016. “New World Magischola – Short Documentary.” YouTube, July 27.
- Taylor, James. 2021. “Brainstorming Technique: The ‘Yes, and’ Technique.” YouTube, March 19.