It seems like mental health (and specifically young people’s mental health) is a topic being spoken about everywhere recently and for all the right reasons.
Most of us are trying to find a way to break the stigma of mental health and encourage young people to speak up about their feelings.
Jigsaw is an organisation which does just that. They are the National Centre for Youth Mental Health in Ireland, and it's their mission to make Ireland a place which values and supports young people’s mental health.
Now, Insomnia Gaming Festival, Ireland’s biggest gaming festival,
have announced Jigsaw as it’s official charity partner.
The festival will now be used to promote increased awareness of the work being done by Jigsaw in supporting young people’s mental health in Ireland.
Joanne Ryan, Campaign Officer with Jigsaw said “Jigsaw are really excited to partner with Insomnia Dublin this November. Over the past year we have seen a huge increase in “gaming for good” style fundraising and awareness events and we look forward to meeting the attendees of Insomnia, and their families, to engage more on the subject of gaming and mental health.”
“Members of our Youth Advisory Panel, all active in the
gaming community, will be on hand to chat to attendees about the work we do in
Jigsaw, and how we can support gamers to look after their own mental health,
and that of their friends.”
The partnership between these two organisations sheds light on
the role that gaming can play in developing good mental health in young people.
A recent article in the New York Times highlighted the fact that there are now many games on the market that contribute to positive mental health and that gaming manufacturers are making a conscious effort to develop games that improve young people’s mental health.
The article quoted Raffael Boccamazzo, a mental health practitioner, who said that video games are “a more effective way of bouncing back from negative moods than passive forms of media like TV or movies.”
We are so excited for this fantastic event and with gaming stars such as Pyrocynical, NerdOut! Music and Joshua Juliana aka ‘lolb0om’, we have no doubt that it will be a wonderful opportunity for young gamers to have fun and partake in valuable discussions surrounding mental health.
