Therapy & Dragons: A look into the Possible Applications of Table Top Role Playing Games in Therapy with Adolescents

• Main Author: Gutierrez, Raul
• Format: Others
• Published: CSUSB ScholarWorks 2017
• Subjects: Games; Therapy; Adolescents; Role-play; Social Work
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/527; https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1609&context=etd

Finding the correct therapeutic intervention for a client can be difficult to determine, especially for certain populations like adolescents. The implementation of Table Top Role Playing Games (TRPGs) in therapy is slowly becoming a more widely utilized therapy intervention because of its ability to engage clients who may be apprehensive to engaging in therapy. Having a wide array of interventions in our therapeutic toolbelt is crucial for mental health social workers to flexibly implement interventions, like TRPGs, with clients. Unfortunately, there is little research determining whether this approach is beneficial to therapy or not. This exploratory research study sought to determine the effectiveness of this intervention using qualitative one-on-one interviews with mental health practitioners currently implementing this intervention with their clients. This study revealed certain themes such as: being able to apply TRPGs to clients of any age group, utilization of a client-tailored narrative through TRPGs, applicability of this intervention in a group setting, TRPGs as a form of safe exposure therapy. Certain risks regarding implementation of this intervention were also identified. The data gathered through this study show that TRPGs could prove to be extremely beneficial to therapeutic practices. Further studies into this intervention should be conducted to truly grasp the extent of this interventions benefits or to identify any unidentified drawbacks.