Trauma Jeopardy Games

Why a game about trauma??

Exposure to trauma is a predictor of system involvement.

Our growing knowledge about the effects of trauma on young people’s behavior and coping skills is transforming the field of juvenile justice. The link between exposure to trauma and subsequent system-involvement is so strong that it has set into motion new interventions for vulnerable young people considered at-risk of arrest. “Trauma-informed” care is now an accepted and widely used term for injecting this knowledge into mental health, rehabilitative, and educational treatments.

Trauma response puts youth in jeopardy when dealing with authority figures.

Yet, despite the growing use of this knowledge base by adults, young people themselves are often wholly unaware of what trauma looks and feels like in themselves or in their friends. Many have no idea when or how their fear, confusion, or sense of powerlessness gets activated, or what to do when it does. Rather, their hyper-vigilance and “fight or flight” impulses can put them in extreme jeopardy when dealing with authority figures, particularly officers, who frequently misinterpret these traumatic responses as belligerence, hostility, and intentional disrespect. This creates a toxic dynamic between law enforcement and young people that can quickly escalate into use of force and arrest.

Want to bring a Trauma Jeopardy game to your organization??

To discuss game versions, prices and packages contact us at:
info@strategiesforyouth.org
or 617.714.3789

Two versions of Trauma Jeopardy

Know Your Triggers: Understanding and Managing Trauma

Know Your Triggers™ is an interactive game modeled after SFY’s successful Juvenile Justice Jeopardy.™ The game, for youth ages 12-18, has been carefully designed in consultation with adolescent psychologists and psychiatrists. One of the game’s objectives is to empower youth to understand themselves, instead of relying on adults. The game format engages youth by asking questions which elicit young people’s understanding and learning about trauma, how it may be triggered in themselves and others, and, most critically, how to recognize and manage distress through adaptive coping skills. Download Know Your Triggers™ flyer to learn more.

From Stress to Success: LGBTQ+ Youth Experiences

From Stress to Success^TM is a game, developed in consultation with child and adolescent psychologists, to help LGBTQ+ youth understand what trauma is, how it may be experienced, to recognize when and under what circumstances it can be triggered, and strategies for managing distress. Building off SFY’s trademark educational game, Juvenile Justice Jeopardy^TM, this program was created in recognition of the clear connection between exposure to trauma and system involvement, the cyclical nature of these two harmful experiences, lack of access to traditional mental health services for those most impacted by system involvement, the particular forms of toxic stress and trauma that LGBTQ+ youth face, and their disproportionately high rate of contact with law enforcement.. Download From Stress to Success™ flyer to learn more.

Our teens really enjoyed the game, and already mentioned how they will carry what they learned over to their everyday lives. They really internalized the information.
Massachusetts JJJ Game Leader

How does it work?

SFY trains your agency to lead the game with groups of youth.

SFY trains agencies with trauma-informed and trauma-responsive social workers and other mental health providers to facilitate and lead Trauma Jeopardy games with groups youth. Training includes strategies and resources to support youth responses. Game leaders are provided with a Game Leader Guide and materials to distribute to youth during the game.

Our ultimate goal is to equip young people with the self-awareness and coping strategies they need to avoid unnecessary engagement with the justice system. Each suite of games focuses on:

Understanding trauma and how it works on the brain, mind and behavior;
Considering sources of trauma as a result of identity or exposures or both;
Recognizing being triggered and when others are;
Learning ways to manage the distress of trauma without risk of harm or system involvement..

Award-winning program

Morgan Stanley named SFY a recipient of its 2023 Alliance for Children’s Mental Health Innovation Award for our trauma-focused Jeopardy games. One of only five organizations selected out of 700 applicants from across the country, SFY will receive multi-year support to launch and implement both programs.

Through its engaging and popular game format, SFY will empower youth in schools, detention centers and community-based programs to recognize trauma and ultimately develop healthy coping strategies to disrupt the “trauma to prison” pipeline.

Trauma Jeopardy Games

Trauma Jeopardy Games

Why a game about trauma??

Exposure to trauma is a predictor of system involvement.

Trauma response puts youth in jeopardy when dealing with authority figures.

Want to bring a Trauma Jeopardy game to your organization??

Two versions of Trauma Jeopardy

Know Your Triggers: Understanding and Managing Trauma

From Stress to Success: LGBTQ+ Youth Experiences

How does it work?

SFY trains your agency to lead the game with groups of youth.

Award-winning program

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