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We will all face a mental or emotional challenge at some point in our lives. It’s an inevitable part of being human. But just because it’s a common theme it isn’t any less difficult to deal with, especially if you are a teen or young adult! Maybe you’re dealing with stress from a lot of extra homework, extracurriculars, work responsibilities, or struggles with relationships. Whatever your challenge is right now, we want you to know about this unique tool for making working on ourselves a fun experience.
Shadow’s Edge is a free mental health mobile game for teens and young adults dealing with the emotional toll of any life challenge. Shadow’s Edge was initially created as a tool to help adolescents and young adults deal with the emotional toll of facing chronic or serious health challenges. But when COVID-19 hit, it became obvious that everybody is dealing with something in these stressful times. Together with young people, we adapted the game to help anyone work on their mental wellness. Shadow’s Edge is available for both Android and Apple mobile devices, and it’s 100% free – no annoying ads, no subscription fees, and no cost to download or to get new features, which is pretty awesome because you can focus only on having fun and digging deep, rather than being bothered by pesky ads.
Well, it all starts in the beautiful city of Shadow’s Edge, where the citizens use art and writing to express themselves and connect with others. But a terrible storm comes in and devastates the city, washing away all the art and scattering the pages of the city journal. And that’s when you – the player – come in! It’s up to you to bring the city back to life, and you do this by expressing yourself just like the citizens of Shadow’s Edge once did. Cover the city walls with your own digital graffiti and write out your thoughts in the lost journal pages as you find them! It’s your own private city where you can vent about whatever is going on in your life, dig deep, and reflect on what it all means to you.
Shadow’s Edge is rooted in something called narrative therapy, or the principle of writing about stressful events to help us come to terms with them and give meaning to our experiences because in reflecting on and formulating our personal story, we come to understand and accept it – to own it and to incorporate it into who we are. The game also uses principles of positive psychology and art therapy.
Throughout the game, players are invited to use the stencils, stickers, and other drawing tools earned in the game to cover billboards, walls, and other objects in the city with street art. Graffiti implies freedom for the player not to be “perfect” and to take risks and is a metaphor for putting yourself out there (something which can be especially difficult for teens and young adults). The player also has the option to cover their artwork and create something new whenever they feel like it, which encourages experimentation and is a metaphor for how one evolves over time.
Shadow’s Edge started with “Digging Deep: A Journal for Young People Facing Health Challenges,” a paper-based book that has been used by over 75% of U.S.-based children’s hospitals. The book was written by Rose Offner, MFA, and our founder, Sheri Sobrato Brisson, MA. Reflecting on her struggle with a life-threatening brain tumor as a young adult, Sheri envisioned a world where every young person feels empowered to face life’s challenges with confidence. Trained in counseling psychology, Sheri wanted to bring the power of narrative expressive therapy and positive psychology to young people broadly – so she partnered with a technology team to develop the digital version, producing the award-winning Shadow’s Edge mobile game.
Shadow’s Edge was created with the help of an amazing team of mental health professionals: child life specialists, psychologists, therapists, and more. It was also co-created with the help of over 500 teens and young adults from all over the globe, through focus groups, surveys, and game testing sessions! Shadow’s Edge continues to evolve with feedback from youth who stand most to benefit from it.
“It is like person-centered therapy, without the therapist.”-Dale Larson, Professor of Counseling Psychology, Santa Clare University
“I like that it gets me in the habit of checking in with myself.”
“What I like about this is when I share stuff. It is about putting yourself out there, no matter how.”
“I have found myself expressing myself more in everyday life.”
So, after you take Connected Mind’s awesome mental health screening tool at Screen4Life.me and find out where you are currently at in your mental health journey, we hope you use the game to work on those things you discovered about yourself. We hope you are just as excited as we are for you to check out the game. It is available for download on the Appstore and on GooglePlay. And again, it’s 100% free for anyone looking to build resilience and work on their emotional wellness. Download the game here: https://bit.ly/shadowsedgegame