“Gaming has long been an important part of my life. In my struggles with mental illness and gender identity, games were a needed outlet for me to explore gender and sexuality, learn to socialize with others, and even to process trauma. I learned coping and resilience skills through the characters my friends and I created and through the space we held around the game table. When I was homeless and working with the Holistic Recovery Project, a peer-run recovery support network, I started hosting regular game nights out of Preble Street in Portland, Maine. It was wonderful how gaming not only became a sight of community for us, but a space for healing and growth. People tried out new skills with characters they created, worked on trust issues, and worked through communication difficulties, while playing a cooperative game."

~Evan McVeigh, Community Organizer