Facilitators information
Are you a gamer who is looking to give something back or feel you have something to offer yur community? Do you have some knowledge, experience and skills that would help you run on-line coop gaming sessions aimed at supporting the mental health and well-being of the participants? Are you willing to do this for free? :-) If you answered yes to most of these questions, especially the one about 'doing it for free' then you are someone we'd like to talk with. If you are interested please get in contact via email at . Or drop us a message on the Facebook page.
Session Timetable
When sessions are scehduled they will be shown here, on the Facebook page and on the Discord server, which you can get access to by sending us an email. We haven't quite got Discord set-up yet but it is likley that facilitators will have their channels to administer where they'll run the chat for their gaming sessions.
Session Requirements
Sessions will run on a range of platforms and use a number of different applications. This will allow us to provide sessions for a larger number of people. One thing that will be common to all sessions is a headset and microphone. Although text chat is possible we feel the most will be gained from sessions if people can chat easily and quickly.
PC sessions will use Steam as the main gaming platform and Discord as the main chat/streaming forum. This means that you will need both of the installed on the device you are going to be using to participate. They are available for Windows, Mac, Linux, AppleOS and Android. Where games allow it, users on other Launchers, such as GOG, Gamepass, Geforce Now and Epic will be able to join sessions. For a PC-based session you may not need to own the game if it available on Steam Remote Play Together. This is a system that allows the facilitator to effectively share their copy of the game with you. Please see Point 3 in the Q&A below.
PlayStation sessions will use the PlayStation Network and will using both the PS4 and the PS5, depending on the games. You will need to own the game on PlayStation.
Xbox sessions will use the Gamepass Network and will using Xbox One and Xbox Series X consoles, depending on the games. You will need to own the game on XBox.
Nintendo Switch sessions will use the Nintendo Switch Online service. You will need to own the game on Switch.
Q&A
So.....you probably have some questions?
- What will actually happen in the sessions? You will be in the session with 3 other people who want to talk about the same topic. One of them will be you, the faciltitator, someone with some knowledge and experience in the topic and who is there to make sure the sessions runs smoothly. You know, to help people to engage and chat, and to make sure it's done in a respectful and supportive way. You'll also have knowledge of the game and the platform being used to help you to get set-up and going if you need it.
The other particpants will be people wanting to chat to about something that is an issue for them. The idea is that not only will they have supportive people to chat to, but they'll be able to provide support and advice to the others from their own experiences.
But it is all meant to be very relaxed and casual, so if sometimes people don't feel lile chatting and just want to run around in the game and have fun, that's okay as well. - So you need me to be a counsellor?? Not at all. Our sessions are not group counselling sessions and you are not expected to be a counsellor / mental health worker. If you are an experienced counsellor / mental health worker, then you are welcome to use those skills in the sessions. But our sessions are meant to be early intervention sessions so the focus in on getting participants engaged with both the games and the other participants.
- So what will I being doing then? Your primary role will be to run the sessions in a manner that makes participants want, and feel safe, to engage. For some sessions, depending on the topic for the session, this might be quite easy, but for others that are dealing with more sensitive issues this may be more of a challenge. This will come down to the game you choose, the in-game roles you allocate to people and the expectations you place on participants.
Expectations will take two forms, social expectations and game expectations. Social expectations are essentially how you expect participants to conduct themselves during sessions, what language is appropriate, what behaviours are appropriate etc. Game expectations are the behaviours you expect in game, how loot will be shared, whether players are expected to stay together and help each other, whether they are allowed to drop in and out of the session etc. - What types of topics are you wanting to cover? Hmmmm, how long is a piece of string?? Basically anything that can impact mental health and wellbeing. Topics like anxiety, stress, dealing with issues of identity, sexuality and gender, work burn-out, parenting, and social isolation have been discussed with potential facilitators so far. We want this to be a two way process. So for some sessions we'll identify the topic and then find a suitable faciltitator. But for other sessions a facilitator might come to us and say 'Hey, I'd like to run a session on .......'.
- I do have some experience and skills in helping with mental health and well-being. Can I use these? The topic of the session will have been chosen because you have knowledge, experience and interest in the area, so you are welcome to share this with the participants. But you are not expected to be a subject-matter expert. One of the primary aims of the sessions is for people to share their experiences with the other participants, so what they are offering to the others is as important as what they are seeking from the others. As the facilitator you will need to find the balance between your input on the topic vs that from the participants.
One thing we will get you to do is to point participants towards resources that might be of use to them. These resources will be specific to your session theme as well as general mental health and well-being resources. We will also be looking to train all facilitators in mental health first aid so that they are better equipped to direct any vulnerable people to appropriate services - What games will I be using? We anticipate that a whole range of coop games will be used. Shooters, puzzle games, simulators like Stardew Valley, strategy games. As long as the game supports 4 player on-line PvE coop it is potentially appropiate. We'll work with you to choose a game you own that we think will help meet the goals we have for the session. To do this we'll consider the needs of the participants, the proficiency levels of the participants, whether they have access to the game etc. As mentioned, at this stage we will only be using PvE games and sessions will be private server sessions only open to the players in your session, and only by invite. We would like to eventually set up our own game servers so we can run private sessions of some of the big PvP games, but that is down the track.
You may also be asked to have some participants engaging through chat only. We aren't only targeting gamers as participants so, while we want to get every gaming at some point, we undertsand that some people may not want to. we are looking to still get these people to log in to a session, watch the action and join in the chat. - Is that all I'll be doing? Yeah, about that. Although we will be looking at other ways to support this, we also ask that you help participants deal with any technical issues they might have in gaining access to, and successfully participating in, a session. This will no doubt be the kinds of issues you have experienced as a coop gamer; connections issues, audio issues, game play issues etc.
- Anything else I should know? We want all of our facilitators to enjoy the games while in session but to bear in mind this is not the primary goal of the sessions. The reality is that you might need to sacrifice some of your own enjoyment of the game to ensure that the participants are enjoying and engaging with the session.
- This sounds great! I’m in! What now? Easy peasy. Just send us an email or message us on Facebook and we can have a chat. Hopefully we'll hear from you soon.
- Hmmm, I'm sure I have more questions but I can't think of them right now - No problem. You can email us at . Or drop us a message on the Facebook page.