OTHER GAMES
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OTHER GAMES
In many workplaces, a culture of silence still exists in relation to talking about mental health, with many people feeling uncomfortable discussing their mental health with managers or colleagues. But mental health is just as important as physical health, and mental health conditions can have a big impact on motivation and performance at work.
To help break the culture of silence and help organisations support their employee’s mental health, we’ve developed the Mental Health Awareness Game. It is an online educational board game for small groups that encourages lively discussions and personal reflection. Anyone can run a game session without external help or training, it is easy to manage and easy to play. It is fun with a serious purpose and clear outcomes.
The game encourages players to explore and discuss mental health issues. Playing the game will help players increase their knowledge and facilitate informal learning through the discussions generated by playing the game.
The game is an ideal resource for any workplace interested in improving awareness and understanding of mental health issues. It is also useful for helping young people in schools, colleges and universities learn about vital mental health issues.
Mental Health First Aid training
The game supports Mental Health First Aid training at levels 1 & 2.
The game has been mapped against typical learning objectives and outcomes for level 2 to build an understanding of the prevalence of mental health problems, knowledge of mental health conditions and looks at supporting people experiencing difficulty with their mental health.
How does it work?
The game is an online board game for between 4 and 12 people. Groups are divided into between 2 and 4 teams that compete to win points by answering questions correctly. These questions and scenarios cover a wide range of mental health issues that help players develop a better understanding.
It is an engaging educational activity for groups that works through a web browser on any device. It can be played remotely during Zoom, Skype and Teams meetings and can also be used face-to-face via a big screen.
Anyone can run a game session without external help or training, it is easy to manage and easy to play the facilitator just shares their screen with the group. Games usually last for between 20 and 60 minutes.
It can be played by anyone at any level in an organisation but is especially useful for Mental Health First Aiders.
Schools & Young People Edition
Encourages discussion and reflection about mental health amongst young people. The Mental Health Awareness game encourages a safe space for players to explore and discuss mental health issues. Playing the game will help players increase their knowledge and facilitate informal learning through the discussions generated by playing the game. Ideal for PSHE activities in schools.
The Schools version was based on mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk. Mentally Healthy Schools is a legacy of the Heads Together campaign and was launched in 2018, bringing together quality-assured mental health resources, information and advice for schools and FE settings in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. They have linked the curricula for various themes, e.g. anxiety, resilience and mindfulness as well as discussing the ongoing developments in each of the nations.
Who invented the game?
Focus Games, the leading developer of game-based learning tools in healthcare developed the game in partnership with Nicola J Stock. Nicky is an Emergency Nurse Practitioner, Lecturer and Mental Health Awareness Trainer. Nicky is also a Mental Health First Aid instructor for various awarding bodies and also facilitates non-certificated workshops that aim to dispel some myths around mental health and illness and encourage conversation about mental health.
These include a ‘walk and talk’ workshop that takes participants out of the training room to chat through guided topics whilst walking along in pairs or small groups. The link between walking and talking also emphasises the link between physical and mental health; in the same way that we have days when we feel physically better than others, so we have days when our mental health is good.
Conversely, we can have days when we don’t feel at our best physically, and the same is true of our mental health. It doesn’t mean that we have a mental illness or poor mental health, just that we’ve had better days.
These core aims of viewing mental health as part of our overall health, discussing myth v reality and encouraging an informal atmosphere where people are comfortable talking about mental health, led to the development of the Mental Health Awareness Game. In the game, you follow a winding path through three categories of questions: true/false, questions about mental health conditions which help to expand player’s knowledge and ‘Purple Peril’ questions that highlight the prevalence of mental health disorders and their impact on the workplace and on life in general. The game is intended as a learning tool, so players should not expect to know all the answers or become disheartened if they seem to get more questions wrong than right! Playing a couple of rounds will quickly show an increase in knowledge and facilitate informal learning through the discussions that are generated by playing the game.
Visit the Focus Games online shop to buy Mental Health Awareness Game and to see our other games.
Single digital annual licence:
£30.00 exc. VAT, P&P
App for individuals:
£2.49 exc. VAT
A single licence gives your organisation unrestricted access to a specific game on the ZeST platform for 12 months. A single licence allows one online game session to be run at any time. However, you can invite as many participants as you wish to each session, and you can organise as many back-to-back game sessions as you need.