Mental health and Minecraft: I built this community block by block

Your first place is your home, your second is your work – but what’s your third space? We explore how virtual spaces like Minecraft can support social connectedness.

One in six people experience loneliness. It’s more common in young people and adolescents but can affect anyone, and it can have a serious impact on physical and mental health (World Health Organization).

Many of us have experienced loneliness, from living through pandemic lockdowns to navigating an always-online world as third spaces become less common and opportunities to connect disappear. How have we responded to these challenges? How do we adapt in a way that protects our health and happiness?

Learning and connecting through Minecraft

Minecraft is often thought of as a game about surviving, building, and exploring a vast virtual world. But it can be even more than that. This block-based sandbox game can serve as a third space, connecting people and providing a safe space for collaboration and creativity.

Safe In Our World spoke with charity Ambassador, Mashfiq Ahmed, a high school science teacher in New York City, who advocates for educational technology and gamification tools to enhance classroom learning.

“Something that has brought me a lot of happiness at work started during one of the most difficult periods of my career”, says Mashfiq. “When schools went remote during the COVID-19 pandemic, I created an after-school Minecraft Club so that my students could have a space to play, socialise, and de-stress together.”

Mashfiq has used Minecraft Education since 2020 and believes gaming can support students’ social-emotional learning. Minecraft Education is a game-based learning platform built by Mojang Studios that adapts Minecraft’s open-world sandbox gameplay to engage students in academic subjects while building real-world digital skills.

“What I didn’t anticipate,” Mashfiq continues, “was how much that space would improve my own happiness at work. There is something powerful about playing a game like Minecraft together. Building something with others creates opportunities to communicate, collaborate, solve problems, and also have fun together!”

A third space to build relationships and create memories

Mashfiq notes that Minecraft doesn’t create winners, but leaders! He says, “Watching my students create, collaborate, and eventually become leaders reminded me of the impact I can have as an educator. The club gave me an opportunity to connect my passion for gaming with my profession, while building relationships beyond traditional classroom roles.”

“From my experience, sometimes the most meaningful moments come from wandering around a shared world, helping someone with their build, or laughing at something unexpected.” – Mashfiq Ahmed

Minecraft offers a space for anyone to come together, build, explore, problem-solve, and create a third space of their own. It’s a great example of how video games can offer more than simple entertainment.

Mashfiq says, “For me, happiness at work comes from feeling connected to the people around me and knowing that what I’m doing has meaning, for both them and myself. Games can create that sense of connection, and having a place to play together can make a difficult day feel a little easier.”

Safe In Our World has launched its ambassador Minecraft server

Thanks to our friends at Kinetic Hosting, Safe In Our World now has its own Minecraft server, where charity ambassadors from around the world can come together, relax, play, and share ideas.

“Online games can be incredible spaces for bringing people together, especially when there’s a great community behind them and a place for that community to call home.” – Kinetic Hosting

“Accessible, reliable servers give people somewhere they can meet, play, create and connect without geography getting in the way. We’re really happy to support Safe In Our World and its Ambassadors by providing the hosting for this Minecraft community.” says Cole, at Kinetic Hosting. “The work Safe In Our World does around mental health and connection within the games industry is hugely important, and if we can use what we do at Kinetic Hosting to help create a welcoming space where those relationships can grow, that’s something we’re very proud to be part of. We’re excited to see what the Ambassadors build together!”

Charity ambassador Nathan Dunton has played an integral role in getting our Minecraft world up and running, building a welcome center at the spawn point with welcome chests stocked with essentials to get started. Whether you play on Bedrock or Java, you can connect to the Safe In Our World server to relax, play, and help build our community of global mental health advocates.

There’s still time to apply to join our Class of 2027 ambassadors – deadline: Sunday 25 October.