- Identify a variety of careers within the mental health field
- Promote motivation & interest in mental health professions
- Foster connections between students and current mental health professionals
- Recognize some of the challenges and rewards associated with these careers
- Develop empathy and understanding for mental health issues and the professionals who address them
- Divide students into 2-3 teams, depending on the size of your group
- Facilitate a game using the provided slide deck on mental health careers to present questions and scenarios
- Keep track of your team’s score on a whiteboard or piece of paper
- Facilitator Role:
- Runs the slide deck.
- Keeps track of time for answering and stealing.
- Clarifies questions if needed.
- Confirms correct answers (answers might be revealed on the next slide).
- Keeps score.
- Team Roles:
- Work together with your teammates – discuss ideas respectfully!
- Listen quietly while the other team is discussing and answering.
- Have one person write down the answer on the whiteboard
- How to Play:
- Each slide will present a different challenge for teams to answer:
- Quiz Questions: These will be multiple-choice or true/false questions about the different mental health professions
- “Who Helps?” Scenarios: Short descriptions of a common situation for a particular mental health practitioner. Students must identify which mental health professional would be the most likely to
- Student Profiles: A short, first-person description from someone interested in a mental health career. Teams must identify which profession best matches their interests.
- The questions will alternate from team to team, so Team A gets to respond to Question 1, Team B to Question 2, and so on.
- The facilitator will show the challenge slide and read the question or scenario.
- The team whose turn it is will have 30 seconds to quietly discuss their answers and write down their answer on a whiteboard.
- When time is up, the team displays their answer.
- Each slide will present a different challenge for teams to answer:
- Scoring
- Correct Answer: The team gets 1 point.
- Incorrect Answer / Running out of Time: The team gets 0 points for that round… BUT…
- Steal Opportunity! If the first team answers incorrectly or runs out of time, the next team gets 15 to quickly discuss and try to “steal” the point by giving the correct answer!
- If that team gets it right, they get 1 point for “stealing” the question.
- Ending the Game:
- The game ends when all slides have been shown, or when the Facilitator calls time.
- The team with the highest score wins! They can win candy, bragging rights, or another prize of your choice.
- Move on to the discussion questions.
- BONUS:
- After wrapping up your discussion, set aside 10 minutes for club members to make thank you cards for the mental health professionals who work in your school! This can take the place of a mindful closing and helps foster gratitude and connection between students and professionals.
- What were the most interesting/surprising careers?
- What are the key takeaways about education, skills, and the nature of the work?
- Think about your own skills and interests (e.g., strong in science? Enjoy listening and talking? Good at problem-solving? Interested in faith? Want to help with practical needs? Driven by social justice?). Which career path(s) seem to align best with your strengths?
- Before playing, did you have any misconceptions about these roles? Did the game help clarify anything?
- How can you connect with mental health professionals right here in our school?
- What do you imagine are some of the biggest rewards of working in a mental health field? What might be some of the biggest challenges?
- If you do not have access to whiteboards, students can use pen and paper.
- Consider having a simple scoreboard slide you can update periodically, or keeping score on the blackboard/whiteboard.
- Encourage brief discussion after answers are revealed to reinforce learning.
- Students can also follow up this activity by exploring careers on Cause + Career
- It might be helpful to add a slide identifying the different mental health professionals in your individual school, or inviting some of those professionals to participate in the meeting.