Gaming Therapy

Support Solutions Gippsland is excited to announce our launch of our MineCraft Gaming Therapy Sessions.
Our 2-hour monitored and structed group sessions will run on the first and third Monday of the month from 4:30p.m to 6:30p.m and will be open to all NDIS Participants of all ages, Australia wide, in a fun and safe environment on our secured server.

MineCraft™ is an interactive creative cross platform video game with unlimited building possibilities. The open world is your blank canvas to build and create anything you like.
This is an online community for any NDIS Participant who is looking to build their creative, social and teamwork skills.
Our closed server allows Participants to work alongside others in groups of no more than 10 participants to be creative and build amazing things while having to negotiate, listen, and work with others in a safe and monitored environment. Minecraft™ is the ultimate tool for helping Participants learn to express themselves, to communicate well with others and to develop their teamwork skills where they are encouraged to participate in social interactions using the game.
Each week we have a different project, task or adventure that we work on together as a team or individually.
For younger Participants, parents can have a say and get involved in their children’s experience.

Message us via our Facebook page or email us at info@supportsolutionsgippsland.com.au to reserve your session as places are limited.

WHAT IS MINECRAFT™?

MineCraft™ is an interactive creative cross platform video

game (available on PC, XBox, PS4 or Nintendo Switch) with

unlimited building possibilities. The open world is your

blank canvas to build and create anything you like.
This is an online community for any NDIS Participant who

is looking to build their creative, social and teamwork skills.

MineCraft™ provides a world where you may decide to

build an underground or cloud reaching fortress,

to explore and take a solo or team adventure,or create

a creative masterpiece.

HOW MINECRAFT™ CAN BENEFIT NDIS PARTICIPANTS

The aims and benefits of the Minecraft™ Social Gaming

Group is to support Participants to develop and increased

level of confidence and self-esteem by sharing ideas,

speaking in front of others and demonstrate pride in their

work and be encouraged by Support Workers and other

Participants. We build an environment that will give them

the ability to collaborate with others; negotiating differences

of opinions, hold conversations, role-sharing, planning and

decision making.
They will develop functioning skills such as problem-solving,

organisation and flexibility. Have positive interactions with

peers, connecting with each-other based on similar interests within the Minecraft realm and increased community access. This opportunity provides Participants with ability to interact with others within the Minecraft™ community.

If Participants have recently relocated, are home schooled, restricted by health, live in a rural isolated location, have difficulty ‘clicking’ and interacting with others, and are still getting used to new social circles and looking for ways to spend time with peers, this presents a fantastic way to help participants feel less anxious about meeting new people online and to build social connections in a safe environment.

WHAT A SSG MINECRAFT™ SESSION WILL INVOLVE

A typical session will run for 2-hours on the first and third Monday of the month from 4:30pm-6:30pm, is open to all ages from anywhere in Australia in groups of no more than 10 participants in a monitored closed server. Each week different tasks and games will be created by our experienced Minecraft™ Tech Wizard that will also spectate the sessions and resolve any technical issues that may arise. We communicate on a free program call Discord that is available on PC, XBox and Playstation, and if participants play MineCraft™ on a Nintendo Switch they can join in by using a smart phone while they play. Discord is a voice over instant messaging social platform that allows participants to communicate using voice chat or messages during the game.
Participants will be encouraged to collaborate by working as a group to

achieve a common goal and engage in joint problem solving whilst sharing

and taking turns in different roles and working on the build together.

This also helps develop social skills by helping them make friends, engage

with others and developing sharing skills. At times issues may arise and

this will help participants develop conflict resolution skills by working

through differences to come to an agreed outcome, with Tech Wizard

input if needed. Another aim of these engagements is to help with

emotional development by learning to understand and talk about

emotions and feelings, exercise their developing conflict resolution abilities to aid problem-solving skills.

It will also help develop communication and literacy skills by expanding vocabulary around social and emotional development, and language development through peer activities.
Participants will practice maintaining attention by staying focused on the task to build the models, develop both verbal and non-verbal communication skills using language and text skills to express ideas and feelings.
Participants will be encouraged to be as creative as they like in building the tasks given and collaborate with one another with certain tasks to expand their creativity.

Each week we will selected a different task or game such as:

· Building Tasks- (Creating Global Monuments, Castles, Pyramids, Underground tunnels and worlds, etc)

· Time Trials- Running and jumping through timed obstacle courses and trails

· Hide and Seek- One team hides underground and the other comes looking for them

· Mini Golf- Play on our Tech-Wizards mini golf courses

· TNT Fun- Have explosive fun blowing stuff up!!

· Sword Tag- Play Tag in a sword battle

· Mazes- Work your way through one of our elaborate Mazes

· Scavenger hunt- Use coordinates given to located a series of objects hidden around the world

· Capture the Flag- Go head to head and capture the other teams flag

· Open play- Create freely in an open world, while being supported and monitored

HOW WE ENSURE A SAFE PLAYING ENVIRONMENT

Our server is one of the safest ways for Participants to engage in Minecraft™ with others, due to our closed server that is always monitored and regulated by our experienced team members who will make sure that everyone is behaving in a friendly and acceptable manner. Only Participants who we have let into the game can come and play in the realm, so it is safe from outsiders. Also, we have clear guidelines and rules for our Participants about how we speak to others, treat each other's work and protect what each other has built. Our experienced Tech Wizard has also created worlds and tasks designed to help prevent conflict between participants.
Getting out into the world and making new friends hasn’t exactly been easy in recent years. Playing online means

our games are accessible to pretty much everybody, no

matter who you are or where you live in Australia.
We find that many children, youth, and adults feel more

comfortable socialising online, so it’s not quite so

overwhelming to meet new people in a virtual game.
Our aim is to create a safe environment to learn social

skills and sportsmanship, and also stretch our

Participants social skills by introducing an element of

team games and player-vs-player mode for some

sessions to get them more comfortable with both winning

and losing.

GROUP RULES

Respect Everyone

Being part of this group requires mutual trust and respect

of one another. Authentic, expressive discussions make

groups great, but may also be sensitive and private.

Bad Language and Hate Speech

Bad language, hostility, aggression, abuse and hate speech

from any member of this group will not be tolerated and

will result in immediate removal and banning from the

game server. This includes any defamatory remarks made relating to individuals or businesses.

In such cases the client will be charged for the full session and not be allowed to return.

Follow the directions and Rules of the Support Workers

Directions and rules set by the Support Workers and Tech Wizz must be followed to ensure that all participants have an enjoyable and safe experience.

WHY GAME THERAPY IS RECCOMMENDED FOR CLIENTS WITH ASD

Children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often display difficulty in learning age-appropriate play and social interaction skills through normal exposure. Instead, children and adolescents with ASD have been observed to respond better to interventions with more structure, rules and turn taking. Therefore, therapeutically oriented games provide the perfect opportunity to target specific developmental outcomes whilst engaging with children and adolescents with ASD in a way that is fun and entertaining. Minecraft™ therapy is also believed to be a way of fostering improved emotional regulation.

Benefits of using Minecraft™ for clients with Autism with the Gaming Group are vast and provided in a fun environment.

Gaming Group gives children the opportunity to understand the logic behind why people are expected to act and behave in a certain way within the game. The aim of this therapy group is to aid children to apply this logic to real-world situations, as well as:

Improve their ability to collaborate and solve problems with others
Adapt to situational changes and expectations
Improve social communication skills
Build on their strengths and interests
Foster positive social interaction with peers

Further build skills on

Planning
Organisation
Attention
Self-regulation

Minecraft™ Gaming Group is about learning to

communicate, be self-aware, control your emotions and plan with others, using Minecraft™. Build your communication and problem solving skills, while having a lot of creative fun and making friends at the same time.