In recent years, tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) have expanded to include new games, environments, and players. This growth has led to the awareness that RPGs and other games are more than just a great way for friends to have fun together; they also have therapeutic benefits, including personal growth and social and educational awareness (Berkenstock & Blakley, 2019). For example, RPGs involve imagination, creative problem-solving, risk-taking, empathy, advocating for yourself, communication, and perspective-taking, just to name a few (Berkenstock & Blakley, 2019).

In our therapeutic gaming social skill groups, we help players that struggle with social skills to be in a supportive environment to learn, practice, and witness others engaging in social skills through game-play. In our current groups, we provide a platform for players to make team choices and work through the consequences. We model and coach on in-the-moment social skills to help our players thrive and grow.