#SafeInOurWorld Launches #LevelUpMentalHealth Campaign to Support Videogames Industry

Mental Health is every bit as important as your physical health, because without a healthy mind, everyday life can be a struggle, whether it’s at home, at work or just socialising with friends.  For many of us, a working life takes up the vast majority of our lives and working from Monday to Friday, perhaps even weekends, everyday routines can become a challenge and if you’re not in a healthy working environment, those days and weeks can feel very long and can make life difficult.

We at PushStartPlay are big advocates of mental health charity Safe in Our World, an organisation that utilises the positive power of videogames to improve your mental health and as an 80’s child struggling being an undiagnosed Asperger (among other things), videogames have played a huge role in my life and its arguably more important now more than ever as a married man with an awesome son.

For the most part, videogames will play its largest role in the comfort of our homes, but what about those that works within the gaming industry away from home?  Well, this is where Safe in Our World aims to help those that work within the industry in the hope that everyone can have a safe and healthy working environment by launching the Level-Up Mental Health campaign.

With the #LevelUpMentalHealth campaign, Safe in Our World aims to unite the videogame industry to not only offer a healthy place to work, but also to offer any support to those that needs it.  Safe in Our World works with some of the industry’s biggest companies and their partner program is always growing, and as a result, their reach is becoming greater by the day.  Partners of Safe in Our World include the likes of 505 Games, Curve Digital, Rethink Mental Health, UKIE, Wired Productions and more.

 

Most recently, Safe in Our World have partnered with Embracer Group, a parent company in the industry that owns more than 160 franchises and 31 internal game studios across 40 countries from all over the world.

Companies that partner with Safe in Our World will gain access to a series of tools to help their work force such as the Employer’s Mental Health Toolkit, giving guidance and aid to help create a positive working environment and as a result, create healthier minds.

Karin Edner, Corporate Governance & Sustainability Co-ordinator at Embracer Group had this to say on their partnership with Safe in Our World:“Supporting mental health awareness is important for us. We are a growing group and with size comes responsibility. Our people are our greatest asset. Committing to Safe in our world, gives us the possibility to provide our subsidiaries with tools on how to engage in this issue. From us, it´s a commitment to raise awareness of mental health in our group, and this allows us to level up together”

The Level-Up Mental Health campaign is just the first of many steps from Safe in Our World and chairman of the videogame inspired charity Leo Zullo declared his enthusiasm for the campaign “We’re beyond proud to see so much support for our cause from the industry, but now it’s time to turn that support into action. The #LevelUpMentalHealth campaign will form a major part of our activities now and in the future.”

Safe in Our World have also announced their goals for the #LevelUpMentalHealth campaign and they are as followed:

• Commit to taking the first steps in rolling out a mental health policy in the next 12 months
• Join Safe in our World as a partner and commit to supporting mental health within the videogames industry
• Help spread the message to creators and players by sharing messaging and signposting inside the workplace and externally to player’s via media channels.

You can read-up on further details for the Level-Up Mental Health campaign here and if you’re struggling with your mental health, there are plenty of links via Safe in Our World that can hopefully point you in the right direction and help you out.  These times are certainly more challenging than most of late, but please remember, that even though it might not seem it during your darkest times, you are never alone.  Whether it’s a family member, friend, social media buddy or someone found through Safe in Our World, someone will help if you reach out.