The Game Therapy Network is just the beginning of Michael’s endeavour to develop a community of peer support workers across Melbourne involved with gaming sessions and game making workshops.
Michael is a Leisure Counsellor who works in private practice and for several organisations across Melbourne, Victoria. He is a lifelong gamer and an internationally published writer , artist and publisher in the comic book industry.
Michael specializes in the field of Therapeutic Recreation. He is a member of Diversional and Recreational Therapists Australia and Counsellors Victoria Inc.
He is the Membership Coordinator for Aspergers Victoria.
Michael can be contacted through this website or booked for Game Therapy sessions through his Mable Australia (formerly Better Caring) profile: http://www.mable.com.au/carer/michaelth1
www.knightsofdice.com
Kindly gives Michael a 25% discount on their product range for his game therapy work in the community (which he is also able to pass on to his clients.)
Michael has also volunteered for several organisations: the Freedom Wheels program run by Solve Disability Solutions (formerly TADVIC), where he modifies bicycles for kids with disabilities and assists in assessment clinics; The Royal Talbot Rehabiliation Centre (pre-Covid), where he ran free form games programs for ABI patients in the hospitals Rec Room, and assisted the Community Integration & Leisure Services Department in their duties; Whittlesea Community House: with his teenage daughter and primary school age sons, Michael facilitated an art after school program called PLAYSCAPES. The key to the program is letting the children choose and research their own art journey.
As an Instructor at a Day Services Activity Centre, Michael assesses key clients and creates card, board, & tabletop games based on their interests.
He is employed largely to engage with “introspective” participants of the service who may otherwise fall through the gap.
Michael has made wrestling board games; tabletop football & basketball catapult games, and labrynth dice games.
Michael has used his game making skills to divert behaviours of concern and earn the trust of participants.
Originally a trade-qualified printer, relevant courses in the field that he has studied include diplomas in counselling and leisure & health and certificates in Allied Health Assistance, Cognitive Stimulation Treatment, Applied Behaviour Analysis Therapy, Art Therapy, Life Coaching, Board Game Development, Cartooning and Bicycle Maintenance.
Michael was recently awarded a full financial aid scholarship from Case Western Reserve University in the United States to study their Inspired Leadership specialisation, based on his peer teaching programmes in the Whittlesea community.
It was to facilitate Michaels volunteer work at the Royal Talbot Rehabiliation Centre, that the Game Therapy Network was formed.
Michael wanted to be able to present to patients that he engaged with a list of games that he was able to source to play with them, and also give them access to rules and video tutorials.
Having been involved in gaming since a child, it was natural for him to include his fellow gamer colleagues also involved in the healthcare fields (Please contact him at gametherapynetwork@gmail.com if you are looking for this kind of work).
As a Mable Ambassador, Michael can even fast track your approval.
Michael can be contacted through this website or booked for Game Therapy sessions through his Mable Australia (formerly Better Caring) profile: http://www.mable.com.au/carer/michaelth1
Through Mable, Michael is fully covered by the relevant public liability insurance, etc. The Mable (formerly Better Caring) platform uses Zurich Australian Insurance Limited and Gow-Gates Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd to establish a suite of covers that are made available to all its affiliated care workers when providing services arranged and invoiced through the Mable platform.
The Community Care Liability Insurance cover made available to affiliated care workers includes:
Group Combined General Liability cover