#326 Therapeutic TTRPGs with Daniel Hand

Dirk is joined by Daniel Hand, therapeutic counselor and author of “Role-playing Games in Psychotherapy: A Practitioners Guide”. Together, the pair discusses Daniel’s journey into TTRPGs and his process of introducing them into his practice, and eventually designing his own game for therapeutic purposes. Topics include adjusting crunch, the benefits and difficulties of using games in therapy, what kinds of issues they can help with, and what the future of this treatment modality might look like.

Episode Outline

0:00 Beginning of Show

1:00 End of Intro

1:58 Daniel’s Story

13:25 Designing a Therapeutic Game

20:26 Design Goals

25:17 Simplifying Systems

33:33 Onboarding Patients

45:31 What’s a Piece of Design You’re Proud Of?

48:08 What Inspires Daniel

51:35 Advice for Listeners

53:00 Outro

54:07 End of Show

In this Episode

Daniel Hand - monomythcounselling.co.uk
David V. Heron - @davidvheron
Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer