Can Computer Games Help Teens in Treatment?

Ask teens in the justice system what they like to do in their spare time, and one of the most popular answers is usually, "Video games." It can be frustrating for youth workers, who want to see teens out in the real world, interacting with real, positive peers and adults.
But what if we could use video games to help teens practice refusal skills while in treatment? Or to engage them in treatment in the first place? That time may not be far off. 

Have you heard of Second Life? It's a free, online virtual world that's user-created. It's interesting in its own right, but what's really exciting about it is the potential to use it as a learning environment. I found about this from Pioneering Ideas, a Robert Wood Johson Foundation (RWJF) blog on "breakthrough ideas in health and health care," from a post about the work of an RWJF-funded violence prevention effort called "Cease Fire," which had received coverage in the New York Times Magazine. 
Cease Fire, an evidence-based approach to reducing shootings and killings, built virtual neighborhoods in Second Life. There, its trainees learn how to "interrupt" violence by doing virtual role-plays of interventions with people on the street. 
From there, it's not a stretch to imagine any treatment agency in the country that has an internet connection helping teens practice refusal skills -- or, for that matter, where therapists could practice Motivational Interviewing skills -- in a similar online, interactive environment.
I was very pleased with myself for coming up with this idea until I learned that other people were way ahead of me:

• Here's a 2008 publication from RWJF exploring the pros and cons of using a virtual world in treatment or to promote recovery.
• RWJF also gave out grants last year to explore the use of interactive video games to learn relapse prevention skills and other healthy behaviors.

Interested in the possibilities? Consider attending the Games for Health Conference in Boston June 11-12, 2009.
Game on!
UPDATE: Don't miss "Second Life Counseling: Real Help in a Virtual World?" This mind-stretching PowerPoint presentation by Dick Dillon of Preferred Healthcare was given at the 2008 Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment (NIATx) conference. Click here for more conference presentations on treatment improvement and related topics.