Check out future mental wellness projects!
Learn more about our project for Inuit youth and families during Covid-19 & the Virtual Qaggiq project.
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. We had the opportunity to travel to the Nunavut communities!
Year 2
We gathered the feedback from our community visits and put it towards creating the new game - I-SPARX! With your help, we hope to learn how this new game can help young people across Nunavut.
Year 3
We adapted our recruitment and outreach plans a virtual format due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Year 4
We formed new partnerships, continued our recruitment activities, and started community-directed knowledge mobilization activities.
Year 5
We started to analyze data, to share our findings with the communities and in peer-reviewed journals, and to plan our next projects!
Partners
With thanks to the following foundations for their support of this project:
