Safe Space: The Video Games Mental Health Podcast

On this episode, Rosie chats with Magic: The Gathering enthusiast, games researcher and Class of 2024 Ambassador - Sahar Mirhadi.

We discuss iGGi, (The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Intelligent Games and Game Intelligence), which is a leading PhD research programme aimed at the Games and Creative Industries.

Links: https://www.zjayres.com/

https://linktr.ee/saharmirhadi

Rosie chats with Dr Raffael Boccomazzo, or Doctor B, who is a clinical psychologist and clinical director at video games mental health non-profit Take This. We talk about Dr B's long history in psychology, therapy and diagnosis, why he's got to where he is today, and his own experiences in diagnosis.

Raffael discusses the intricacies of intersectionality within diagnosis and marginalised groups, and the differences in mental health and neurodiversity such as ADHD and Autism.

How to ADHD

Dr Russell Barkley Take This⁠

Content Warning: In this episode there are non-graphic mentions of self-harm, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, drug abuse, overdose, emotional abuse and violence. Please proceed with care and remember you can pause the episode and step away at any time.

Charlie Mullins from Companion Group joins Rosie on the podcast to discuss Borderline Personality Disorder, better known as BPD. Whilst uncovering the common misconceptions about BPD, we discuss Charlie's experiences with the disorder and how it's affected his life, relationships and coping mechanisms.

Charlie explains how getting a diagnosis can...

Rosie is joined by two guests; Charlotte McBurney, BAFTA-nominated actress known for her role as Amicia in the Plague Tale Series, and Hannah Rutherford, content creator and SIOW patron.

We deep dive into both A Plague Tale Innocence and Requiem to uncover what goes into emotionally preparing for a character such as Amicia's. Charlotte talks about her experiences in bringing a heart wrenching, beautiful story to life. Hannah talks about the journey of playing the games live with an audience, and managing her community whilst exploring the world of A Plague Tale.

This episode looks...

In this episode, Rosie chats to Demi Fortson, Co-Founder at Mendu and Doctoral Student Researcher at Columbia University in the City of New York.

We talk about the origins of Mendu, and it's purpose. Mendu is a self-care app built with a culturally competent AI to talk through your problems with you. It promotes the premise of prompted audio journaling, whilst educating users on topics and feelings built on science and data.

"Our journaling prompts were made by diverse women for others facing similar life events. We are transforming the way therapeutic journaling and meditation...

In this episode of the Safe Space Podcast, Rosie and Harry chat to Adam J. Harrington, the wonderful voice of Sindri, from God of War.

Now, before we go any further, this is an official spoiler warning.

SPOILER WARNING

In this episode we will be discussing heavy spoilers from God of War Ragnarok. If you'd like to avoid spoilers, please don't listen to this episode!

We were delighted to invite Adam J. Harrington to discuss the evolution of Sindri within God of War Ragnarok, and dive into the role that grief...

In this episode, Rosie is joined by Dr Emma Reay, Senior Lecturer at the University of Southampton, who researches Games Studies and Game Design. 

Emma has previously looked at exploring the therapeutic effects of games for mood repair, building resilience and community, and joins us to discuss games and grief. 

We chat about how death is interpreted in gaming, as a fail-state, and how we can look more closely at games who look at death within games as a win state. What happens when we start to uncouple loss and losing? We dive into games su...

In this episode of Safe Space, Rosie talks to JJ Fox about neurodiversity - specifically, JJ's experiences being an autistic game dev and how it links to mental health. JJ is an indie game developer currently working on Hymble Ventures, as well as a Safe In Our World Class of 2023 Ambassador. They are also a fan of cosplaying, kung-fu and heavy metal. 

We discuss the common stigmas and misunderstandings surrounding autism in the games industry, and the ins and outs of autism awareness and acceptance. We chat about JJ's game in development Hymble Ventures, which is a 3D...

On the first episode of 2023, Rosie talks to Ladell Smith, the Associate Social and Community Manager at Auroch Digital, Safe In Our World Ambassador in our Class of 2023, and owner of They Play Podcast - which is a space for gender non conforming people to share their stories and love of games!

We kick off the episode discussing their history of most treasured games, how they started streaming and working in the industry. We focus specifically on how folks can understand BIPOC Mental Health in a more equitable way, and be a better ally for BIPOC folk...

We welcome Sajam to the Safe Space Podcast, to talk about his experiences in mental health within his content.

Sajam is a Twitch Partner and fighting games commentator/analyst, segue specialist, with a passion for DnD. He was also one of the commentators in Intel Gaming World Relay 2022, which supported Safe In Our World alongside 3 other charities in the games space.

One of Sajam's most popular shows is his series 'Will it Kill?', which involves funny fighting game clips and the community voting on whether the combo will kill or not based on a...