Why I’m gaming for 24 hours for Health in Mind

Sean Forrest, who works at Edinburgh-based tour company Rabbie’s, explains why he’s organised a gameathon at his workplace to support local mental health services. 

On the 20th of June, I am hosting a 24-hour gaming marathon through my workplace, Rabbie’s Tours, in support of Health in Mind. 

Gaming can sometimes be seen through a negative perspective. However, for my whole life, gaming has been critical in fostering relationships, spending quality time with others, living shared experiences and escaping the stress of everyday life. 

As someone lucky enough to have the support of a psychologist through my childhood, mental health quickly became a topic I strived to break the stigma about. When I moved to Edinburgh to study, I worked as a Resident Assistant, where I first heard about Health in Mind. One of the students expressed feeling homesick, overwhelmed, and isolated. They explained that if it weren’t for Health in Mind helping build their resilience, hope and showing them ways to support their mental health, they would have dropped out. (I believe that student has now graduated and finished their first year as a full-time doctor).

This experience spoke to me. It helped me understand how lucky I was to have received the help and support I needed when I was little, and that not everyone was so fortunate. Shortly after, I decided I had to do everything I could to make my corner of the world brighter, and a great place to start was combining my inspiration – Health in Mind – and one of my core coping strategies, gaming. 

So that’s what I did. I took my passion and made it into a challenge: 24 hours of gaming, all in the name of raising funds for Health in Mind.

Why the gameathon? 

In any form, play is a necessary evolutionary tool to let people build bonds with peers and test their resolve against the world in a safe, controlled environment. While at the same time, it relieves the worry of failure and promotes creative and innovative thinking. I believe that play is something hardly any of us allow ourselves to do with the stress of modern life but it should be encouraged in moderation, with other healthy coping strategies for mental health. 

Staying awake for 24 hours is hard enough, but staying cognitive enough to solve problems, resilient enough to overcome challenges, and determined enough to stay focused is even harder.

When I first did the 24-hour gameathon, the event was a band of students alleviating the stress of exams to do something good. It was a huge success, but there’s always room for growth. Now with the support of Rabbie’s, this event has grown from me sitting on a webcam by myself to a full-blown company-wide event.   

This time, the event will have 2-hour time slots to highlight the different ways, styles, and impacts games can have on individuals and groups. Party Games like Mario Kart unite people (or test their friendships), whereas a cosy game like Stardew Valley allows you to inherit a farm and escape from a corporate desk job. This contrasts with brutally challenging games like Dark Souls or horror games, where people can build their resilience in a safe space. 

Bringing the gameathon to Rabbie’s 

The reason I chose to host the event through Rabbie’s is because many of my colleagues expressed that they would love to participate in a 24-hour gaming marathon, but would never have the time or space to do so. Rabbie’s has not only shown incredible support, but has been generous enough to encourage staff to use paid volunteering days to participate.

We are hosting the event live in our wonderful office, with lots of teamwork from the Corporate Social Responsibility team, marketing team, and the whole office! I am very lucky they saw my vision and gave it more arms and legs. 

Also, due to popular demand, we are now including board games in the event, which I had not included in past years. We have seen wider participation because of this, which overall has been a welcome addition.  

I want to thank Health in Mind for giving me this space to share my thoughts, and thank Rabbie’s for encouraging my vision. The marathon will be streamed live, starting at 9am on the 20th of June, and is free to watch on Twitch here. All funds are being raised through a Just Giving page here.