Don’t Walk Past: practice difficult conversations
Don’t Walk Past is an accessible and engaging workplace mental health simulation. It was designed for staff working in the NHS but the model will work in any industry.
It is a conversational simulation that encourages staff to talk to each other about mental health and wellbeing. The game supports Mental Health First Aid.
Staff training for a busy working environment
Offering easy pick-up-and-play mechanics, short focused stories and chapter selection features - users can practice whenever they have free time or need a quick learning boost.
With such a sensitive and subtle topic it was important to make the conversations feel as real as possible and allow learners to explore different ways of handling the conversations. The serious game includes multiple branching narratives so learners piece together the story and unlock the various endings.
“Professional, creative & hard working.”
Engaging storylines
The hospital environment is realistically built with a diverse cast of characters, each with a professionally written story.
The game works on 3 skill areas:
Conversation - branching narrative question and answer consultations with patients track the degree to which the player demonstrate empathy. This is scored on an “empathy” scale that responds dynamically as the conversation is played out.
Observation - because not all communication is verbal, the game includes facial expressions and body language that needs to be observed to identify hidden feelings.
Investigation - players have the opportunity to review their conversations and identify their choices and look for opportunities to improve. Learners are also then signposted to extra sources of support on the subject of mental health and well-being.
These topics are sensitive but are from real-world experiences from real people. Totem spent 3 months consulting across 3 hospitals with a wide range of patients and staff to create the final scenarios. This ensured the stories are realistic as well as give a voice to those who aren’t represented enough in today’s conversations.
The branching narrative tool we developed can be applied to any conversational and scenario-based game setting.
