PlayMode Academy

As an adult who enjoyed playing Minecraft with my children and having used it as part of our home education journey, I already had an appreciation for the adaptability of the game. Ellie took this knowledge to a new dimension by sharing her vast knowledge of how Minecraft can be used therapeutically and psycho-educationally. This course's immersive and experiential nature helped me develop first-hand experience of how Minecraft could be used for counselling and how therapeutic boundaries can be created and held within the online gaming sphere, providing the opportunity to experience Minecraft as both a therapist and a client. Ellie is a warm and knowledgeable communicator and educator. I highly recommend this course to anyone wanting to explore how Minecraft could be used within their counselling practice. By far, this is the most enjoyable CPD I have done to date.

Wow, what can I say. This training was so eye opening, I loved everything about it. It gave me so many ideas to incorporate into my therapy. From watching / talking to clients about gaming and Minecraft, to getting involved. I especially loved the area where the River of Life, Blob Tree, Grief Jars, Window of Tolerance etc this was just something else! The training followed a methodical approach and perfectly laid out. The role play at the end again, really good to experience and put into practice what we learnt, and such a beautiful reflective ending where we all gave each other a virtual gift. Such a fun but informative day. I can't thank you enough.

I recently completed Ellie's Minecraft training for therapeutic use and found it very inspiring. I am not a gamer at all ... I came to the training with some reservations as a result but Ellie managed to draw me into the world and open my eyes to it's value. I couldn't have imagined how it would work therapeutically, but it has the potential to work beautifully- as Ellie and her own work is a testament too. I love the idea of building virtual safe spaces, creating memory gardens, looking at feelings as characters, naming them, placing them, even battling them if needs be. The possibilities are endless and I now have enough knowledge to start off and bring a young person on a Minecraft journey. Ellie is a Minecraft genius and I would recommend her training to anyone- in fact I have already started to.

I have learnt so much with the live training - it brought the whole process together and I have a clear vision of how to work with clients. It was great to have the training delivered in person as it was tailored to our needs (5 star rating ).

I found the training valuable, learning new creative tools to help engage and communicate with children and young people. Ellie was a fantastic tutor, with great passion and enthusiasm in what she teaching, and has much patience for all Minecraft newbies!

Ellie's training continues to open up 'the power of possibility' when using Minecraft as a therapeutic tool, enriching my clinical practice as well as offering my clients new ways of thinking and being.

Fantastic day, love the activities and I feel that I have come away with more confidence and enhanced my learning.

I was very excited to jump into a session of Minecraft and see how it could be used as a therapeutic tool and I was not disappointed. I am a Student and very new to the world of counselling, but that did not stop Ellie from making me feel right at home within the live training. She was excellent in explaining counselling concepts that I was unfamiliar with, which helped me understanding how to transfer them into the world of Minecraft. Seeing all the creations that Ellie had built, showed me how visual and explanatory Minecraft's creative mode can be. Which is great in analysing and understanding how a child might be internalising an issue. I found each activity fun and engaging to complete, even if I felt a little silly doing the roleplay (where I was roleplaying as a 7 year old haha)I still very much enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend Minecraft as a tool to utilise within your practices.

This is my favourite counselling course I've ever done. I'm maybe slightly biased as I enjoy Minecraft outside of the therapy room, but the course was well paced and nicely balanced between in-game activities and group discussion and reflection. This balance not only made the day informative, but really helped to build a rapport with the other people in the group.Taking part in activities help us to see how it would feel for the client and being able to explore the various activity builds and how the traditional activities had been translated into Minecraft was invaluable, especially as they were tailored to how each member of the group works. Ellie is a pleasure to be taught by and her enthusiasm and knowledge of both the game and the therapeutic application of it shines through. It really was a pleasure to be on the course today and the tech check beforehand was incredibly helpful.

I loved Ellie's Level 2 training in Using Minecraft as a Therapeutic Tool. Level 1 had gotten me excited and inspired but Level 2 gave me the confidence and skills to actually do something about those emotions! Ellie was kind, personable, and patient throughout, getting to know me and my team and giving us breaks. The structure of the day was brilliant, you never felt rushed or that you were stuck on something for too long, and you got lots of time to rest and allow what you had learnt to sink in. There was so much practical learning involved which really helped considering I'd never played Minecraft before, it also made it really fun. Ellie had made activities for us to use in our sessions with children that were specific to our charity - it was such a thoughtful (not to mention super helpful) touch! This skill set Ellie has given me is going to completely transform the way I do sessions with young people online - it is so much more immersive than what I usually use (pens and paper over a screen) and it allows the clients to be the experts (most of the YP I have sessions with are experts in Minecraft). Thank you so much Ellie for sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm.

Fantastic and immersive training carried out by Ellie. Highly recommend for working with CYP, but also adults who struggle with expressing themselves. I can't wait to start using this as a tool within my practice!

It was very useful and helpful, the way Ellie had taught us made it very easy to learn and she kept it very interactive without making it overwhelming at all. Thank you very much, I know this will be really useful in my work and I cannot wait to begin using all of the techniques that I have learnt.