Stress Awareness Month

In April, the team at Safe In Our World will be focusing on stress. A feeling known to us all, especially in the past two years, stress has taken a grasp on all of us. But there are ways to combat it.

If you’ve ever played Dark Souls, you’ve likely experienced what stress is. Stress causes physical changes in the body designed to help you take on threats or difficulties. You might notice that your heart pounds, your breathing quickens, your muscles tense, and you start to sweat – This is known as the fight or flight response. Once the threat or difficulty passes, these physical effects usually fade. But if you’re constantly stressed, your body stays in a state of high alert and you could develop stress-related symptoms.

We have a lot of information already about what stress is, and what we can do to support ourselves when we are in a state of stress. This month, we’re expanding these conversations to not only spread more awareness, but to have more open discussions and provide more resources on how to cope with stress.

So without further ado, here’s this month’s line-up: including game highlights, articles, podcasts, streams, interviews and tips and tricks on how to relieve stress. We’ve got conversations lined up with the wonderful GeekyCassie, Jake Kulkowski and Mark Flynn, as well as the return of our monthly Hub World, where we speak to our community about different topics.

Events

• Sarah and Rosie will also be in attendance at WASD in London on the 7th and 8th April, so if you see us, swing by and say hello!
• On Thursday 21st April Rosie will be representing Safe In Our World at the Games Education Summit 2022 in Sheffield, alongside Next Gen Skills Academy and the Mental Health Foundation to come together to discuss their recent research project.

Coming Up

Safe In Our World is kicking Stress Awareness Month off with our first team stream, where Jake and Rosie will be playing It Takes Two whilst talking about how they manage stress through the power of video games. These streams will a weekly Friday occurrence, with different guests and games to follow, so check out our Twitch Channel here to keep up to date. Talking about mental health is important, and it’s brilliant to be able to do it in a relaxed, no-pressure environment, where we can truly have the time to explore our monthly themes with our community.

We will be highlighting relaxation techniques and breathing exercises across the month, to provide practical support to those who need it, as well as talking about the link between uncertainty and stress. We’ve set up podcast interviews with Jake Kulkowski, GeekyCassie and Mark Flynn to look at 3 unique takes on stress and how video games links in with this, which we’re excited to share with you!

We’ll be delving into whether notoriously stressful or scary games can actually have a positive stress-relieving effect, as well as the classic games that players gravitate towards to relax such as Stardew Valley. Jake will be taking a journey of his own into the wonderful world of A Short Hike, whilst Rosie explores the relaxing nature of Hoa with Mark Flynn.

We’ve got a lot on in the upcoming weeks, and we’re delighted to talk *even more* than we do already as we approach our anticipated Mental Health Month. If you’ve not caught it yet, we have recently announced this year’s theme and fundraiser, Play Your Way – if you’d like to get involved, hit the link and see what you can do to support mental health awareness.