Games industry mental health charity, Safe In Our World, is celebrating its fourth birthday on World Mental Health Day by looking back on its achievements throughout 2023 and revealing details of its 2024 Ambassador Programme.
World Mental Health Day is an international day for global mental health education, and this is something that Safe In Our World has been proactive in championing since its inception in 2019. To date, the charity has provided $250,000 in free mental health training across the games industry – this has included training 350 community managers in mental health first aid, as well as 150 individuals in mental health awareness for underrepresented communities.
Other 2023 Achievements
- Released its biggest charity bundle with over $500 of great games, which sold out in less than 24 hours
- Hosted the first games-industry mental health summit in association with BAFTA
- Launched Sidekick, a new video games mental health journal
The charity has welcomed new partners to its Level-Up programme, including JAGEX, Multiplayer Group, Fribbly Games, and Hardball Games. This has come alongside the addition of three new trustees to the board, Stacey Fowler (Senior Director of Communications and Commercial at Media Molecule), Dr Emma Reay (Senior Lecturer at the University of Southampton), and Callum Underwood (co-founder of IndieBI).
Sarah Sorrell, Charity Director at Safe In Our World said, “2023 has seen an unprecedented period of achievement and growth for Safe In Our World and has accelerated our efforts in supporting the video game industry’s mental health needs. The growing support we continue to receive is overwhelming, and we are looking forward to raising even more mental health awareness and helping more people in the year to come.”
Current Activity
Safe In Our World is currently offering a new three-part training course on Self Advocacy Speaking. This free course is delivered by personal development coach, Lisa Marie Hall, in partnership with Google Play and will run on dates throughout October, November, and December 2023. Places can be booked here.
Later this month, the charity is running Press Pause 2023, which centres around the idea of pressing pause on life by pressing play in-game and raising money to continue the charity’s valuable work in reducing stigma and providing resources on mental health within the games industry. You can sign up here.
And finally, as Safe In Our World enters its fourth year, it is delighted to announce that applications have opened for its Class of 2024 Ambassador Programme. The charity welcomes a class of 25 to its Ambassador Programme every year, offering selected individuals opportunities to attend exclusive mental health training, feature within content, represent the Safe In Our World at events, and more. Whether you’re a content creator or you’re just passionate about mental health, you can apply here!
Steve is an award-winning editor and copywriter with more than 20 years’ experience specialising in consumer technology and video games. With a career spanning from the first PlayStation to the latest in VR, he's proud to be a lifelong gamer.
