For the latest podcast, as part of Mental Health Awareness Week, we spoke to journalist and writer Joe Donnelly about his book Checkpoint: How Video Games Power Up Minds, Kick Ass, and Save Lives.
Joe is a gaming enthusiast and mental health advocate and Checkpoint considers the intersections of video games and mental health, and explores his belief that the interactive nature of games makes them uniquely placed to educate and inform.
Joe and Ali discuss this thesis, as well as the personal story that underpins the book. It’s a fascinating, honest, and insightful discussion – one which does touch upon subjects such as suicide, depression, and anxiety – and which will be of interest to everyone, whether you consider yourself a gamer or not.
Checkpoint is published by 404Ink and can be ordered directly from their shop.
Hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, Mental Health Awareness Week is between 18-24 May 2020. The theme is kindness.
If you need someone to talk to Samaritans are a mental health charity and service for crisis and support. For further information, and all the ways to contact them, go to Samaritans.org.
If you are new to the Scots Whay Hae! podcast there is quite a substantial back-catalogue for you to discover. If you aren’t yet a subscriber you can do so, (or simply listen) at iTunes, on Podbean, with Spotify, by RSS (but you’ll need to have an RSS reader to do so) or on MixCloud.
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We will continue to bring you many and varied SWH! podcasts in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime you can always check out our back catalogue of over 140 interviews with some of the most interesting names in Scottish culture, including our Scottish Opera series and the Glasgow Film Festival 2020 podcasts.