A new card game has been designed to help children work through mental health challenges with cognitive behavioral therapy. Mental health in youth has never been a larger problem. The pandemic has made sure everyone is aware of the mental health of our children and the children around us, and the more we understand the struggles they are facing, the better our resources and support are going to be. Going to therapy is never a bad idea, but there could be a better way of helping children and that may be getting through to them with games that they can relate to.

According to Medical Xpress, there is a new card game that has been designed to help youth open up about their mental health challenges and work through them. The game was designed by Brigham Young University, and their full news release on the game can be read in full here.

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The game was developed by Jon Cox who wanted to help youth develop an awareness of their own thoughts and teach them skills to use when it comes to fighting their own mental health. The game is called Cosmic Battle Training. It can be purchased by anyone here.

Jon stated that his game is meant to improve coping skills in youth and their self-resilience, and it reflects an intergalactic space battle. If your child is into space or any type of battle game, this may be both fun and educational. Players in the game have to pick and use offensive and defensive strategies in order to “defeat” their opponent and win. At the bottom of every card, there are therapy principles that players have to read and make sure they use on their next turn. Jon used cognitive behavioral therapy practices to create this game.

Some of the examples are thinking about what you would tell a friend if they were in the same situation, stopping to think about the actually chance something bad may happen, and remove yourself from a negative situation before you react based on emotion and only returning when you calm down. Jon said that while he trusts his game, and how it works, it should never be used to completely replace therapy – which youth can still benefit from. Instead, it should be used as a tool in a parents/professional's toolkit to help a child work through their emotions and come up with coping skills for when life just gets a little too rough for them.

Sources: Medical Xpress, BYU, Amazon