We have another mental wellness project starting up!
Learn more about our project for Inuit youth and families during Covid-19.
This page is also available in Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun
I-SPARX
Youth and community-directed e-mental health intervention designed with and for Inuit Youth
ABOUT I-SPARX
I-SPARX teaches young people skills that can be used to fight off low moods and negative thoughts
I-SPARX players enter a fantasy world, where balance has been disrupted and light has been taken. Players create their own character and are given a mission to help restore balance and light to the land by collecting Power Gems. Navigating through 7 levels, youth complete challenges that help them learn skills based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which can help them sort out problems in the real world, too!
What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy?
CBT
CBT is one of the most-used and recommended treatments for youth facing difficulties with their mood. CBT focuses on understanding the relationship between what we think, how we feel, and what we do. Our thoughts affect our feelings, and our feelings affect our actions. I-SPARX teaches skills that can help young people learn how to change their negative thoughts and replace them with more supportive, balanced thoughts.
Meet the Team
*Community names may not reflect recent renaming.
Timeline
Year 1
The project officially began in June 2017 upon the award of a CIHR Project Grant for April 2017.
Year 2
The I-SPARX Team had the opportunity to travel to the Nunavut communities of Pangnirtung, Pond Inlet, Cape Dorset, Baker Lake, and Cambridge Bay.
Year 3
We gathered the feedback from our community visits and put it towards creating the new game - I-SPARX!
Year 4
We now need your help to understand how this new game can help young people across Nunavut.
Year 5 & 6
We will continue our outreach and recruitment activities, followed by data analysis, community-directed knowledge mobilization and reporting of our findings.
Partners
With thanks to the following foundations for their support of this project:
