Developing therapeutic groups using tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) in tertiary pediatric mental health

Youth with complex mental health and neurodevelopmental differences benefit from diverse opportunities to practice using coping strategies. These youth also benefit from therapeutic opportunities that leverage internal motivation to participate, so it’s important for them to have fun in therapy. It’s also important for these youth to trial the use of strategies in peer-based environments that offer flexible levels of instruction and support.  

Current service formats do not meet these needs, so Sonya’s team will evaluate the use of tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) for therapeutic purposes in outpatient youth mental health settings. TTRPGs are saturated with humour, risk-taking, and creativity. TTRPGs bring players together to solve problems. The problems evolve and are shaped based on participant choices and interests, and solving the problems is an inherently social task. This means that TTRPGs manifest many of the same social demands and challenges that youth encounter at home and at school. In this sense, TTRPGs are a natural vehicle for bridging the gap between outpatient treatment and real-life function.  

Together with youth and their families and carers, the team will explore TTRPGs as a natural creative space in which youth can learn to self-monitor, self-regulate, and advocate for themselves.