MindJam

MindJam offers emotional support and guidance for children and adolescents through gaming and game design. It is important to recognise and understand that many children have additional emotional needs that are not always met by traditional means. At a young age, these needs can sometimes feel overwhelming and often isolating.

​At MindJam, our aim is to support children who suffer anxiety, stress, social issues and other emotional needs. All our mentors are very experienced and trained in working with neurodivergent individuals including autistic young people and other conditions such as PDA, ADHD, anxiety, trauma and PTSD. MindJam uses gaming, coding and game creation, digital music and digital art, as a platform to develop positive play, problem solving and social and technical skill development, through friendly, positive and low-demand sessions. These activities are great for relieving stress and anxiety and have been shown to greatly benefit mental health and cognitive development.

Our approach is positive, gentle encouragement with no demands. We can look at any aspect of computers, from playing and chatting together in favourite games, to game designing, digital art, animation, Esports, video editing and music. The purpose is to build self esteem, confidence, recognise skills and abilities and talk through anxieties, worries and goals whilst engaging in games and other interests. Through positive, non-judgemental social interaction, tuition and play, we aim to provide the right support for their individual needs, whilst also providing an educational benefit through furthering skills in gaming, game design and coding.

The sessions can range from playing together in Minecraft, Fortnite, Roblox and other games, to learning Java, hosting a server, modding, creating games in Roblox Studio and Dreams, coding games in Python and Lua, video editing, animation, using Scratch, modelling in Blender, becoming trained and certified as a junior programmer in Unity and helping aim towards further education and employment.

The future is becoming increasingly digital and it is a world in which young people increasingly feel at home. By harnessing the benefits of digital entertainment/creative platforms, we want to support them with aspects of life they find difficult, in an environment they feel comfortable.

Please see www.mindjam.org.uk for more information.