Games offer us a chance to explore new worlds and open our perspectives to new realities. Whether they are video games, board games, or other traditional tabletop games, they can be used for more than just fun and a good time. We can actually learn a lot from these games. These games can allow us to practice skills that maybe we don't utilize often in our everyday life. Skills like communication, assertiveness, strategy, problem solving and critical thinking. Can games even help us with mental health issues? I would argue yes. Let's take DnD for example. On the surface this role-playing game from 1974 is about having a good time with a group of friends and weaving tales and stories about grand adventures over large pizza and some soda. But what if we dig a little deeper? It is there that we find all these wonderful skills or utilizing the play the game. Skills like communication to talk with your friends about the best strategy, critical thinking to plan the best way to attack the problem at hand, creativity to create your character and the world that it lives in. Now you might be asking yourself how exactly does this help with mental illness? Well let's take anxiety and depression. Individuals with anxiety and depression often have trouble with putting themselves out there. Anxiety will tell a person that it is not safe to speak up and depression will tell a person and they are not wanted when they speak up. But by playing this game individuals with anxiety can practice speaking up, they can practice building an ideal hero that is brave, courageous and speaks their mind. The individual with depression gets an opportunity to be a part of something bigger than themselves, it may not sound like much, but these quests and journeys can bring about a sense of meaning and belonging. This person and depression who was once very much isolated now has a group that they belong to, a social circle that lifts each other up. So it's never really just a game, it is the chance to build skills and relationships. It is an opportunity to safely face challenges and struggles. It is a way that people can learn and they can be resilient and persevere. It is a lesson and no matter how big and scary the monster is in that cave, you can put up a fight, you can gain experience, and you can win. These games also teach how to lose. Losing is never comfortable but it is an important lesson. In a lot of these games losing just means we have to go back to the drawing board and learn from our loss. With these games we can use experience win or lose to better ourselves, to better our characters. These games are more than just a game, they allow us to experience aspects of life without danger. If you or a loved one struggle with mental illness, maybe part of the journey is about a roll of the dice.