Games, Play, and Therapy: A Professional Resource Library
A curated library of clinical resources at the intersection of tabletop roleplaying games, play therapy, and integrative trauma work. The materials here reflect the approaches GATE uses in practice and the published work our team contributes to the field.
GATE Clinical Contributions
Published and applied work by GATE clinicians, including chapters, guidebooks, and clinical frameworks used in our practice.
Tabletop Roleplaying Games and Trauma
Quinones, B. C., & Somers, S. (2024). Utilizing tabletop roleplaying games in treating trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder. In Trauma Impacts: The Repercussions of Individual and Collective Trauma (pp. 211–224). Wiley.
A peer-reviewed chapter exploring how tabletop roleplaying games can be integrated into clinical work with trauma and PTSD, including considerations for safety, pacing, narrative distance, and the therapeutic use of role.
Venture Society: Professionals’ Guidebook
Quinones, B., & O’Niell, H. (2024). Venture Society: Professionals’ Guidebook. 9th Level Games.
A clinician-facing guidebook for using the Venture Society tabletop roleplaying game in therapeutic settings. Venture Society was co-created by Brian Quinones and collaborators at 9th Level Games.
Tabletop Roleplaying Games in Therapy
Tabletop roleplaying games can offer clients meaningful distance from difficult material while still allowing genuine emotional engagement. Through character, story, and shared play, clients can explore role, identity, choice, and readiness in ways that are often more accessible than direct conversation.
- Venture Society — published by 9th Level Games; co-created by Brian Quinones and collaborators at 9th Level Games.
- Clinical applications include narrative distance, role exploration, group co-regulation, and identity work.
Play Therapy Foundations
Play therapy is a foundational element of GATE’s integrative model. The approaches below inform our work with children, families, and groups.
Association for Play Therapy
The Association for Play Therapy is a professional membership organization that supports the play therapy field through training, credentialing, and research.
Website: https://www.a4pt.org/
Neurodivergence-Affirming Practice
AutPlay Therapy
AutPlay Therapy is a neurodiversity-affirming therapeutic framework developed by Dr. Robert Jason Grant that integrates play therapy, behavioral, and relational approaches for autistic and neurodivergent children and their families.
Website: https://autplaytherapy.com/
Selected Reading
These are works that inform how we think and work at GATE — not a complete reading list, and not endorsements of every claim in every book. They are references we return to when thinking about play, story, trauma, neurodivergence, and game-informed clinical work.
Play Therapy Foundations
A broad contemporary reference for play therapy theory and practice.
Supports caregiver involvement and parent-child relational work.
Directly relevant to GATE’s group-based clinical work.
Game, Play, and Narrative
A peer-reviewed article directly supporting the clinical use of tabletop games in play therapy.
A focused clinical reference for the therapeutic application of role-playing games.
Helps explain how narrative structure and story movement can shape therapeutic play.
A practical facilitation reference for clinicians using narrative, improvisation, and group play.
Trauma, Neurodivergence, and Clinical Context
A foundational first-person autism perspective that supports neurodivergence-aware clinical thinking.
A strong professional reference for the trauma and neurodevelopmental intersection.
A foundational review article on trauma and autism.
GATE Contributions
GATE’s own developing clinical materials and between-session tools, available to professional visitors and the families we serve.
About This Library
This library is offered as an educational resource for clinicians, students, and allied professionals. Inclusion of an organization, author, or publication does not constitute clinical supervision, formal endorsement, or a treatment recommendation. Clinicians seeking clinical supervision or consultation can learn more on our Professional Services page.