IMPACT

At PlayMode Academy, social impact is at the heart of everything we do.

Our mission is to make mental health support more engaging, inclusive, and accessible – especially for children and young people who may find conventional services harder to access or connect with. This includes neurodivergent children and those navigating trauma, bereavement, systemic barriers, or social anxiety.

By equipping mental health, education and social care professionals with the tools and confidence to use creative digital platforms – including Minecraft – we’re helping to shift how support is delivered.

We’ve had the privilege of working with a wide range of practitioners, from hospices to national charities, both in the UK and internationally. Many have gone on to integrate creative digital tools into their practice, making therapeutic support more accessible and meaningful for the children and young people they work with.

On this page, you’ll find some of the ways we’re measuring and understanding our impact – including early data from our evaluation surveys, practitioner feedback, and examples of how PlayMode Academy training is being put into practice.

This is just the beginning. As we grow, so too will our ability to demonstrate the real-world difference this work makes.

Here are just some of the organisations we have worked with:

SUPPORTED BY

  • Integrating Minecraft into our support work has been a game-changer — quite literally — for engagement, accessibility, and emotional outcomes.

    - Impact Survey Respondent

  • I feel it has given the children a language to communicate with beyond the spoken word

    - Impact Survey Respondent

  • Using Minecraft has brought an accessible approach to children

    - Impact Survey Respondent

  • We have seen the children becoming more confident and helping each other, sharing ideas and working together which is great for our aim of reducing their risk of isolation

    - Impact Survey Respondent

  • Children and young people who might struggle to open up in traditional settings are far more willing to engage in a space that feels familiar, creative, and safe. Minecraft provides a non-threatening, playful environment where relationships can be built gradually and naturally.

    - Impact Survey Respondent

  • We’ve seen clear improvements in confidence, communication skills, and peer connection.

    - Impact Survey Respondent

  • Minecraft helps bridge the digital divide and meet young people where they are. It allows us to include children who might otherwise struggle to attend in-person sessions due to anxiety, distance, or social barriers.

    - Impact Survey Respondent

  • Minecraft has allowed us to connect differently — and in many cases, connect better.

    - Impact Survey Respondent

  • In a nutshell, it's more accessible.

    - Impact Survey Respondent

  • For many children and young people who have struggled with sitting in a more traditional counselling context, being able to run about in the world, build, interact and talk at the same time in a safe and familiar place has enabled them to relax and feel more at ease in speaking about their feelings and also engaging with new ideas and ways of thinking.

    - Impact Survey Respondent

  • “For some [children and young people] Minecraft certainly was the reason they engaged and where able to engage...Minecraft worked when many other interventions failed.”

    - Impact Survey Respondent

  • Minecraft meets young people where they are. It creates a space that’s familiar, fun, and safe – which massively helps with engagement, especially for children who’ve been through trauma or find it hard to talk.

    - Impact Survey Respondent

  • It’s not just a game – it’s a platform for expression, connection, and trust-building. We’ve seen children who were previously disengaged start opening up and even look forward to sessions. It also works brilliantly for accessibility – especially for those who live far away or struggle in group settings.”

    - Impact Survey Respondent

Publications and Projects