KEMP Hospice supporting Children and Young People using Minecraft Counselling

Recognising and embracing new ways of supporting children and young people is important for KEMP’s Bereavement Services. That’s why our Children & Young Person Team recently received innovative and exciting training to provide counselling sessions using Minecraft.

What is Minecraft?

Minecraft is a hugely popular computer game that has grown a worldwide audience of 141 million active players since its inception in 2011. Minecraft is a virtual world, which encourages creativity and is one of the most popular ‘sandbox’ video games. The term sandbox refers to a virtual environment where children can create nearly anything they want, allowing them to share and express their thoughts and feelings in a creative way. There are no set goals in the game, it simply encourages the use of imagination and exploration.

Using Minecraft in counselling for children & young people

Thanks to the creative and flexible nature of the Minecraft game, KEMP counsellors will enter the game with their client where they will begin to build environments and situations. Using therapeutic techniques, together they will explore the grief the child or young person is experiencing following a bereavement.

Ellie Finch, training provider said “I’m so honoured to have spent the day with this team of amazing counsellors at KEMP Hospice in Kidderminster. I trained them to use Minecraft Education as a therapeutic tool so they could offer counselling sessions in the game, integrating this engaging and innovative approach to support bereaved children and young people.”

KEMP family support & bereavement services

At KEMP, we provide support to anyone living in the Wyre Forest district, who is facing, or has experienced bereavement in the last five years. KEMP Family Support & Bereavement Services are available for children from the age of 5, young people and adults through one-to-one counselling and group support. We never charge for our care, so we rely on the incredible support of businesses, groups and individuals in our community who fundraise for KEMP Hospice to ensure our services are available free of charge, now and for the future.

To find out more about KEMP Family Support & Bereavement services in the Wyre Forest, please click here.