Would Your Child Be a Good Fit for Dungeons & Dragons Group Therapy?

Have you ever wondered what help is available for kids outside of individual talk therapy? Social distancing has made many of us acutely aware of how important it is for kids to be around other kids. If you’re trying to find ways for your child to stay connected to peers during another few months (or more!) of online school, I want to introduce you to a quirky new kind of therapy you may not have heard of before. In this post, I’ll be sharing a little about how Dungeons & Dragons can be used in therapy groups, and how to tell if this approach could be a good fit for your child.

What Happens in a Dungeons & Dragons Therapy Group?

Dungeons and Dragons is a little bit like a choose your own adventure book come to life. Each player in D&D creates a character with their own unique strengths, weaknesses, and magical powers. These characters work together to navigate a fantasy world, solve problems, and generally get up to mischief and adventure.

Rather than following a pre-set story or rules, D&D players are making up their own story as they go. They’re helped in this by a “Dungeon Master”, who acts like a referee and emcee in the game. The dungeon master sets the scene for the players, gives them problems to solve, and helps them to build a magical world. A roll of the dice determines how successful the player is at whatever they’re trying to do, which adds an element of surprise to the game.

Dungeons and Dragons is collaborative, not competitive, and it requires tons of creative problem solving. This makes it a great fit for therapy groups, and therapists around the country have started incorporating D&D into group therapy sessions with kids and adults. Dungeons and Dragons is a great way to meet new people, practice communication and teamwork, and experience the satisfaction that comes from learning a new skill.

Is Dungeons & Dragons OK for Kids?

The name “Dungeons and Dragons” sounds a little…sinister. It conjures up images of a game that is heavy on gore and may not be suitable for children. If this is the reaction you had when you first heard about D&D, you aren’t alone! Just like rap music and video games, there was some controversy in the 80s about whether D&D was too violent for kids.

Name aside, there is nothing inherently age-inappropriate about D&D for kids. The game is all about imaginative play, and it doesn’t even have to include dungeons or dragons: stories have been set in all sorts of cool, child-friendly fantasy worlds, from outer space to fairy forests to fantasy worlds inspired by Studio Ghibli movies. Because the game is fully customizable, it’s up to every group to decide what content is okay and what is not, and how to handle violence.

Today, we know that there are many ways in which role-playing games like D&D support child development. Game play requires both math and reading skills, encourages teamwork and turn-taking, and gets kids see the world through someone perspective, which helps to develop empathy. Dungeons and Dragons promotes all sorts of positive social skills that kids can apply not just to the game, but to their day-to-day lives.

Who Is a Good Fit for Dungeons and Dragons Groups?

So, what kind of kid might enjoy playing D&D? Is it only for children who already really into nerd culture? Is it better for extroverts or introverts? What about kids who have never played the game before—could they figure it out in a group setting?

Personally, when I started playing D&D, I was not very familiar with anime, video games, or any other aspect of “nerd culture.” I had also never played the game before, and the rules seemed a little intimidating at first. Now that I’ve played the game for a while, I think the only skills you really need to be a great D&D player are imagination, creativity, and a willingness to play.

Here are a few signs or traits that your child might be an excellent fit for a Dungeons & Dragons therapy group:

• Your child loves getting lost in fantasy worlds like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or Star Wars

• Your child is a “theater kid” who enjoys acting or performing

• …or, on the flip side, your child is shy and would love to make new friends, but isn’t sure how to reach out to new people

• Your child is imaginative and was always great at pretend play

• Your child would like an opportunity to practice teamwork, verbal communication, and taking turns

• You think your child could use the self-esteem boost that comes from mastering and succeeding at a new activity

Both extroverts and introverts can excel at Dungeons & Dragons, as long as they are willing to step a bit outside of their comfort zone to play around with new friends.

How Old Do Kids Need to Be to Play Dungeons and Dragons?

I usually see 12 being recommended as the ideal age to start playing D&D. The rules can be a little complicated, and kids need to be able to think abstractly in order to enjoy playing the game. In my own D&D group, I work with middle school aged kids from ages 11-14.

The right age to start playing depends a lot on your individual child. If your elementary school-aged kid has been playing other tabletop games for years and is a fantasy story fan, she may be ready to dive into D&D. It’s also possible to simplify the rules of D&D to accommodate younger players, which can be a fun option for families with mixed-age kids who would like to play the game together.

More Information on Dungeons & Dragons Therapy Groups for Children

If you want to experience some of the therapeutic benefits of D&D for yourself, check out Young Dragonslayers. This program started as part of my therapy practice, and has grown to offer online D&D to kids across the country with the goal of practicing social-emotional skills in a friendly, inclusive environment.

For further reading, check out my earlier blog post on the mental health benefits of D&D as well as Geek & Sundry’s helpful article about D&D therapy, which focuses on how the game can be useful for kids with social anxiety.

If you have any questions or you’d like to learn more about counseling, you are always welcome to contact me.

How Drama Therapy Helps Kids Build Social Skills

Imagine you’re a sixth-grader on your first day of school. You walk into your classroom, and realize you don’t know many other students. How do you strike up a conversation with the stranger sitting next to you? Will you be able to tell when they’re getting bored, and you need to change topics? What if the teacher gives everyone a dreaded group assignment—how will you negotiate who does what work on the project? What if somebody disagrees with you?

In order to thrive in school, children have to learn more than just academics. There’s a whole host of social and emotional skills that kids need in order to start conversations, make friends, and generally get along with other people. For kids who struggle with social anxiety or nonverbal learning, these skills may not come quite as easily or feel as natural as they do to other people. Sometimes kids I speak to feel hopeless about their ability to socialize: they think that social skills are either something you’re born with or you’re not.

The truth is, nobody is born with perfect social skills: we all have to learn them, and we can all get better with practice. Keep reading this post to learn how drama therapy can help kids boost their social skills in a fun, supportive environment.

How Drama Therapy for Kids Works

Drama Therapy uses theater-based activities to help kids learn empathy, explore feelings, and work together as a team. Any activity that involves imagination and play can be fair game for a drama therapy session: children may write scripts, improvise scenes, or even play games like Dungeons and Dragons that are based on roleplay.

Drama Therapy helps a child get both their brain and body involved in the learning process. This can be especially helpful when it comes to learning social skills, since body language is such an important part of how we communicate with other people. It’s one thing to sit with a therapist and talk about social skills, or to fill out a worksheet about how to make conversation. It’s another thing to practice those skills in real-time, with other kids.

Drama Therapy allows children to experiment with eye contact, body language, and tone of voice and get immediate feedback about how others perceive them. It also gives kids practice in reading other people’s tone, which is so important for building social skills. Most importantly, all this learning happens in a setting that is playful and fun, so mistakes don’t feel as personal or overwhelming.

Drama Therapy Helps Kids Recognize Tone

Have you ever had the feeling that you’re not in on a joke? It feels terrible. Some children need extra practice in order to understand other people’s tone, pick up on sarcasm, and understand not just the words being said, but the feelings behind them. A lot of times, these tones are subtle and never put into words, but drama therapy makes them explicit and easier to understand.

In order to successfully perform a scene, children need to be really attuned to the emotions their scene partner is trying to convey: what are they saying with their body language? How does their voice sound? Kids also have to think critically about their own body language and tone of voice in order to play a character: a friendly nurse, for example, is going to carry herself and speak very differently than an angry giant.

The awareness of tone and body language that kids develop through Drama Therapy can be carried with them back into the “real world.” Understanding tone allows children to detect sarcastic comments, notice when they may be coming off as braggy, and pick up on subtle cues that someone might be ready to end a conversation or move on to another topic.

Drama Therapy Encourages Teamwork

Anyone who has taken an improv class has learned the number one rule of improvisation: “Yes, and…”

When you are acting out a scene with an improvised partner, you have to work together and roll with whatever the other person says or does. For example, if your partner says “Wow, I can’t believe it’s been raining all day” and you reply with “What are you talking about? It’s sunny!” the scene falls apart.

Good improv requires that you say “yes” to whatever your partner gives you, and then build on it by adding something of your own—that’s the “and” part. Responding to your scene partner’s comment about the rain with “Good thing I brought the world’s largest umbrella” keeps the scene moving, and makes it funnier, too.

In Drama Therapy, kids practice taking turns, making compromises, and sharing ideas. Everyone gets a chance to be in the spotlight, and children learn how to accept this positive attention as well as when it’s time to step aside and give another person a chance to shine. Improvisation helps children to think more flexibly, deal with different points of view, and discover how combining many points of view can lead to something unexpected and better than what any one person could have dreamed up alone.

Drama Therapy Turns Strangers Into Friends

Theater brings people closer together. One of the reasons that “theater kids” love drama club is that creating a play together also creates friendships. It’s pretty hard to work together on a theater piece week after week and not come away from the experience with more understanding and appreciation of your castmates. Drama Therapy can have the same effect for children whose goal is to improve their friendships.

Performing with other people builds empathy: it requires you to imagine putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, and imagining how they would feel in a given situation. Performing also allows children to share parts of themselves that might not always come out at school. Kids who may feel shy or withdrawn at school have a chance to share their goofy, silly side, their assertive and confident side, or their supportive side that is a cheerleader for other children.

You learn so much about other participants in Drama Therapy that it’s hard not to become friends. It’s a good reminder to not judge a book by its cover, and to look for the surprising things you might have in common with other people who seem different at first glance. The acceptance and belonging that kids feel through their friendships in a Drama Therapy group can help them feel more confident the next time they need to make friends in a new situation.

Learn More About Social Skills And Drama Therapy

Want to learn more about Drama Therapy and how it can help kids with social skills? The Family Compass website was a great source for this post, and goes into more detail about the neuroscience behind Drama Therapy. You can also get good general information from the North American Drama Therapy Association. I’m a Registered Drama Therapist helping kids in the Charlotte, North Carolina area, as well as working with children online in North Carolina, New York, and Florida. You can reach out to me here.

Dungeons and Dragons as Therapy? How This Popular Game Helps Mental Health

During quarantine, many of us have been looking for activities to fill our stay-at-home time that feel more rewarding and productive than endless Netflix streaming. Many people are craving an escape from real-life stress and looking for ways to connect with friends that feel more personal than texting. Maybe it’s not surprising, then, that Dungeons and Dragons experienced a revival during the pandemic.

Although it may seem surprising at first, it makes sense that people are turning to D&D during stressful times. Dungeons and Dragons and other roleplaying games are increasingly popular tools in group therapy can help players improve their emotional and social well-being. In this post I’ll unpack how D&D is used in group therapy, and why it can be a benefit for mental health.

What Is Dungeons and Dragons?

Dungeons and Dragons, also known as D&D, is the most popular tabletop roleplaying game on the planet. It was invented by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974, so it’s been around for a while and has built up a large following of devoted players. Players in D&D take on the role of a character in a fantasy world, and they collaborate with other players to pursue a goal, collect treasure, or defeat bad guys. Unlike most other games, there is no set path to take, and characters don’t just progress along spaces on a board. What makes D&D and other roleplaying games unique is that the players improvise to create a story together, and their choices affect what happens next.

The game is facilitated by a lead player, called the Dungeon Master, who describes situations for the players and asks them how they’d like to proceed. Then, it’s up to the players to decide how their character would act in a given situation. To add an element of chance to the game, players then have to roll a die to see how well their plan works. It’s not competitive, and there are no winners or losers: everyone works together toward a common goal. This can lead to surprising, funny, and even touching moments during game play that could never have been planed in advance.

Why is D&D Having a Moment Right Now?

Although D&D has always been popular in geek culture, it’s enjoying a moment right now due to the popularity of Netflix’s hit show, Stranger Things. Although the show is set in the 80s, the teen characters’ obsession with D&D has piqued the interest of 2020’s kids. Although it isn’t D&D specific, TV shows like Game of Thrones have also made fantasy stories cool, and helped to bring previously “nerdy” interests into the mainstream. Finally, podcasts like The Adventure Zone and Critical Role are bringing younger, more diverse people into a game that might have formerly been associated with older guys playing in a basement. Thanks to pop culture, D&D is cool again, and being played by more young people than ever.

What Are the Mental Health Benefits of D&D?

Play of all kinds has mental health benefits—it’s why play therapy has been used to help kids since the days of Freud, back when psychology was a new and emerging field. Play helps us to assimilate information we’ve learned, test new ways of behaving before using them in real life, hone our social skills, and boost our creative problem-solving abilities.

Although we might think of play as something reserved for little kids, the truth is that older children, teens, and even adults benefit from having playful experiences in life. Unfortunately, the older we get, the harder it is to find socially acceptable ways to play. D&D is an awesome, age-appropriate way for older kids and adults to recapture that playful childhood feeling and reap some of the same benefits that play has for younger kids.

Some of the possible mental health benefits of D&D are:

• Improved social skills with peers

• Increased self-esteem and self-confidence

• Ability to express yourself and your needs assertively

• Improved impulse control and practice with turn-taking

• Stronger creative thinking and problem-solving skills

What Makes D&D Work So Well in Therapy?

Although there are plenty of games in the world that aren’t just designed for little kids, D&D has a few unique characteristics that sets it apart from the rest when it comes to improving mental well-being. Here are a few reasons why D&D is so great when used in therapy:

• D&D is collaborative. Rather than competing against each other, players must find a way to get along and work together.

• Playing as a character who is different from yourself allows you to literally see the world through someone else’s eyes, which can build empathy.

• Because the game is based in role-playing, it’s a great way to try out new ways of interacting with other people in a low-stakes, fun environment.

• Playing the game tends to help people bond and build friendships. D&D provides a structured way to get to know new people that might feel less awkward than making small talk with a stranger.

• D&D players have almost unlimited creative freedom, which can be liberating. Do you want to be a 1,000 year old elf sorcerer with purple hair and a pet mongoose? You can do it in D&D.

How Does a D&D Therapy Session Work?

Usually, D&D therapy is group therapy: you need a team of at least 3 or 4 people to get the game going. Unlike other forms of group therapy, D&D groups tend to be pretty intimate, which makes it easier for players to get to know each other. It’s most common for therapy groups to meet on a weekly basis, but this can vary.

Typically, groups begin with a check-in for participants to talk out of character and connect with each other. This is a great time to share about how the week has gone, and share anything that has happened that might be relevant to the group’s goals. Once everyone is settled in, the actual game-play portion of the session begins, facilitated by at least one therapist who can keep an eye on everyone’s progress and make sure that everyone is having fun. After playing, the group ends with a wrap-up conversation, which can be a great time to connect what is happening in the game to the particular goals of the therapy group.

The actual time spent playing D&D can vary a lot: based on the age and attention span of the players, a session could be as short as 1 hour or as long as several hours! It’s safe to assume that most therapy groups will be on the shorter side.

More Info On D&D As Therapy

For more info on the mental health benefits of D&D, check out one of the following resources. Geek and Sundry has an awesome, in-depth look at how D&D can help kids with social anxiety get excited about going to group therapy. If you’re more of a video person, check out this interview with a D&D therapist to hear more about her work.

If you’re local to North Carolina, New York, or Florida, I may be able to help you get started with D&D Therapy! I co-facilitate a few groups for middle and high school students, and they’re a highlight of my week.

If you’re not looking for therapy, but interested in the social-emotional benefits of roleplaying, check out Young Dragonslayers, where my geeky colleagues offer online friendship-building D&D games for kids all over the U.S.

Drama Therapy for Children: Express Yourself Through Theater

Drama Therapy uses storytelling and make-believe to help children work through feelings

This is the second blog post in my series on drama therapy. Click here to read part one!

Drama therapy is a form of mental healthcare that uses theater techniques to improve the mind-body connection, encourage emotional growth, and provide symptom relief. When drama therapy is used with kids, storytelling, imaginative play, props such as dolls and puppets, as well as theater techniques like improvisation and performance help children to explore their feelings, connect with others, and problem-solve difficult situations.

Drama therapy can be used in both group and individual therapy sessions. Because it helps participants express themselves nonverbally, it works well for people of all ages and abilities, as well as across cultures or when there may be a language barrier within a group. Today, I’d like to talk about how Drama Therapy can be an especially powerful tool for kids in counseling.

Drama Therapy for Children: No Theater Experience Required

Parents might wonder if their child has to have a flair for the dramatic in order to benefit from Drama therapy. Is this a form of counseling just for "theater kids?" Not at all! Kids who are natural performers or have theater experience are a great fit for a drama therapy group, since they’ll be building on their strengths and connecting with other children who may share their interests.

However, I believe that more introverted kids can benefit just as much—if not more—from therapy that uses theater techniques. There’s a lot more to Drama therapy than just performing on stage, and the skills can be modified to meet any child’s needs and comfort level with performing.

Why Drama Therapy is a Natural Fit for Children

If you have a young child in your life, you have probably seen her pretend to be a superhero, or act out scenes from a favorite movie or story using her friends or toys. Children are natural storytellers, and they love to take on the roles of their favorite characters and heroes. This type of play is the foundation of drama therapy!

Kids are naturally inclined to work out their feelings and learn through play. Child therapists like to say that "play is the child's language,” and research has shown that imaginative, make-believe play is a critical part of healthy child development. Even when children are exploring pretend scenarios in play, they are learning important lessons about real life. Drama therapy builds on this natural capacity for imaginative play to help children work through feelings and events that might be too big to describe with words. 

What Kinds of Children Benefit from Drama Therapy?

Drama Therapy has been used to help children with a wide variety of problems. Some of these include:

• Children having problems with relationships, or who need to practice social skills

• Children on the autism spectrum

• Children who are acting out behaviorally

• Children who are recovering from a serious injury or illness

• Children who have experienced trauma or loss

In general, drama therapy can be an asset for any child who has a hard time verbalizing his feelings. Even bright and talkative kids often have a hard time articulating deep, underlying worries or emotions. Even if they can verbalize them, many kids are hesitant to share these deep-down feelings out of a fear that they may become too overwhelming for themselves or others to handle. For these kids, traditional talk therapy alone may not be the most helpful option. Drama Therapy can help children begin to access and explore their emotions in a less threatening, more playful environment.

Benefits of Drama Therapy for Kids

Drama therapy has some unique benefits for children when compared to other forms of therapy. Here are a few of the common positive outcomes for children who participate in drama therapy:

Reduced Social Isolation: Drama Therapy is a community-building activity that helps children build empathy and social skills. Young people have the opportunity to walk in another person’s shoes and may discover that their peers not only understand their worries and problems, but share them.

Increased Self-esteem: Children can experience the confidence that comes from learning a new skill, whether performing for a full house, a group of peers, or an audience of one. Theater performance celebrates the uniqueness of each individual and can help young people to identify their own strengths.

Practicing New Skills: Roleplaying allows kids to try out new coping and social skills in a safe, low-risk environment. The role-player is free to experiment and make mistakes, and discover how different approaches to a problem have different outcomes.

Creative Problem-Solving: Drama therapy increases children’s creativity and spontaneity, encouraging young people to trust their instincts and come up with new, out-of-the-box ways to approach life's challenges.

Improved Emotional Expression: Drama therapy is a great way to more deeply explore feelings that may not be accessible with verbal therapy alone. It can also be a safe way to explore feelings that are too big or scary to talk about directly.

Learn More about Drama Therapy for Children

Drama Therapists are increasingly employed in settings that work with children, such as schools, early intervention programs, recreational facilities, and hospitals. Drama therapy for kids can also sometimes be found in therapy practices specializing in children, such as my own.

To find out more about how Drama therapy can benefit young children, check out the North American Drama Therapy Association’s website here.

If you’re in the Davidson area, I’m a Registered Drama Therapist and would be happy to talk more with you about this unique form of child therapy. You can contact me here.

All About Drama Therapy (and Why It’s Not Just for Extroverts)

Find out how drama therapy might help your child, even if she’s not a “theater kid”

When you hear the words “drama therapy”, what do you think of? Maybe you imagine standing on stage, performing a play in front of an audience. If you’re super extroverted (like me!) this might appeal to you, but if you are someone who is not so jazzed about public speaking, this might sound like a nightmare. How could performing a play be therapeutic?

I had some of these same thoughts before I became a Registered Drama Therapist. I knew that I loved theater, and I knew that creating and performing art was an inherently healing activity, but I wasn’t entirely sure how theater could be used to help heal mental health problems. Here’s a little bit of what I have learned about the field of drama therapy, and why it might be a great fit for you or your child…even if you aren’t an extrovert.

Therapy That Uses Theater

While some drama therapists do help their clients to perform plays, there are many other ways to practice drama therapy that don’t involve getting up on a stage in front of lots of people. Most Drama Therapists incorporate theater techniques, like improvisation, roleplay, and storytelling, into group or individual therapy sessions where there is a greater sense of privacy. Sometimes, Drama Therapy is a standalone form of therapy treatment, but it can also be blended with other, more familiar forms of therapy that a client may already be using, such as CBT, trauma-focused therapy, or play therapy.

The North American Drama Therapy Association defines drama therapy as "the intentional use of theater techniques to achieve symptom relief, emotional growth, and mind-body integration." It’s an experiential form of therapy, which means participants learn by doing, rather than simply sitting and talking about their feelings and problems. This full-body approach can be a great fit for clients who have a hard time feeling grounded and focused in traditional therapy, or who need to access bigger, deeper feelings that are difficult to put into words.

What Are the Benefits of Drama Therapy?

Although acting is a form of make-believe, drama therapy explores real-life issues. Through an imagined character or an improvised scenario, we get the opportunity to try out new ways of interacting with other people, and can come up with more creative solutions to problems than we might think of in our everyday lives. Because Drama Therapy is based in play, it’s often a less intimidating, more enjoyable way to explore heavy subjects. The safe remove of make-believe can also make it easier to share experiences or feelings that might be too overwhelming to talk about right away in traditional talk therapy.

Theater is one of the oldest art forms on earth, and it can be found in cultures all over the world. By participating in a Drama Therapy group, people can develop a sense of community, create new friendships, boost empathy, and strengthen self-esteem. For people who have experienced trauma, Drama Therapy can be especially helpful because it engages the entire body, which helps to fully process traumatic memory and relieves trauma-related symptoms, like flashbacks. Drama Therapy is also an excellent option for people interested in improving their social skills, because it emphasizes nonverbal communication and team-building.

Finding a Registered Drama Therapist

Many Drama Therapists enter the field after professional careers in theater, where they may have noticed the healing effect that drama can have on both the audience and the performers. Therapists who are certified in Drama Therapy are called Registered Drama Therapists. This is a specialized, Master’s-level credential that requires the same coursework as a mental health counselor, as well as extensive training in several forms of Drama Therapy, professional theater, and completion of a supervised internship that is equivalent to a second Master’s degree. Like other mental health professionals, Drama Therapists are board certified and adhere to a code of ethics.

Because it doesn’t rely solely on verbal communication, drama therapy has been used across many cultures, and adapted to meet the needs of people of all ages, abilities, and needs. Drama Therapists can be found working in a wide variety of settings, including inpatient and outpatient mental health facilities, schools, shelters, Early Intervention programs, wellness centers, and in private practice. If you’d like to learn more about Drama Therapy, please feel free to reach out to me (I’m a Registered Drama Therapist myself!), or check out the North American Drama Therapy Association’s website.