Magic of Minecraft a mental health marvel

Mental health clinicians are using the magic of Minecraft to assist in the treatment of children with complex social and behavioural issues.

Children aged between five and 15 join a secure Minecraft server and interact with a trained mental health clinician while also on a Microsoft Teams video link.

Senior mental health clinician with Evolve Therapeutic Services Timothy O’Donnell said the success of the program had exceeded his wildest expectations.

“These are children with severe and complex behaviours who have been through trauma, grief and loss and struggle to engage socially or build a trusting relationship” he said.

“When COVID hit we weren’t able to do in-person sessions for a while and I found when trying to do sessions with the kids over the phone or by video links they would often disengage within five minutes because they were bored.

“Now, through Minecraft, I regularly find our sessions will go for two hours and even once time is up, they want to stay on for longer.”

Mr O’Donnell said the game wasn’t just a useful tool for interaction it also provided good insight into the children’s state-of-mind.

“The kids are having so much fun in the game that it really helps to bring those barriers down by having such a safe and engaging world,” he said.

“It has been amazing how much of what the kids do in the game reflects their life in the real world.

“Some just want to build walls around their homes, others want to explore the world while a few want to vanquish the monsters.

“If they are getting sick of the conversation or the topic becomes too tricky for them, they will move their avatar away from me, I’ll change the conversation and once I think it is OK, I’ll walk back over to them and be able to reengage.”

Mr O’Donnell said the program catered to children with severe and complex challenges and generally they would be involved in the therapy for about 15 months.