Bring SPIKE! to your peer support group.We offer chronic illness patients a fresh approach to peer support.
SPIKE! is a free storytelling card game for chronic illness peer support groups. We facilitate the session for you, or co-lead it with your group leader or patient advocate. Using a science-based storytelling method, players open up about hard topics with peers who understand. The game and facilitation is FREE until January 27. We only ask that the group fills out a short confidential survey on their experience afterward.
Played by the Mass General Brigham's Long COVID Recovery Support Group and Mount Sinai's Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illness. SPIKE was researched and designed by Denise Brodey, M.S. in Media, Medicine and Health from Harvard Medical School, who lives with Long COVID. Learn more about the science of storytelling and play, and why they help patients.
SPIKE! has helped to make talking about hard things easier for people living with chronic illnesses, including Long COVID, IBS, fibromyalgia, endometriosis, ME/CFS, diabetes and depression. Your peer group can be next.
SPIKE! Fortellerkort + Regler
Spillet foregår i et trygt og konfidensielt rom (det vi kaller et pasientlyttinglaboratorium), og veiledere minner spillerne på at de kan slutte å dele når som helst. En fullstendig veiledning og kortstokk er tilgjengelig på forespørsel når du bestiller et pasientlyttinglaboratorium med veileder og spillskaper Denise Brodey, MS.
Slik spiller du Spike!
Psykologisk trygghet er innebygd i spillet
Tilretteleggerne kan bruke kortene nedenfor til å forklare spillet og sørge for at alle spillerne føler seg trygge og har mulighet til å legge til positive kommentarer.
1. Look through the deck and select three image cards that resonate with you.
2. Take a STOP card (a hand symbol for pausing) and a PLUS card (to add anything new). This is for psychological safety. Scroll to the bottom of the page for details on this important topic.
3. One card at a time, share what comes up — any memories, emotions, or associations connected to the image. A useful framework is to choose a card that represents the ‘before’ times (pre-COVID), a card for where you are now (mentally and physically), and a card that represents the future.
4. A player can use the HAND card to pause the game or the STOP card to discontinue their turn. The game moves at each player’s pace.
5. When players talk through their cards, hold them up for others to see, either on screen or in person; the facilitator can summarize what they heard.
6. Close out each turn with three final questions: Why this card? Did what you said surprise you? Does this card point to something you wish others (like your doctor or caregiver) understood? This offers closure and insight.
**Dette er ikke en medisinsk test eller råd. Det er ikke terapi. Det er et spill som betatestes av og for personer med kronisk sykdom og støttegruppeledere. Spilltestere spiller ut fra en følelse av fellesskap, ikke mot betaling.**
Thank You for Playing!
Dozens of patients spent time and precious energy developing SPIKE! the game for chronic illness peer support groups, including students, peer leaders and faculty at Harvard Medical School and MIT Games Lab in Boston.We have also received calls from therapists and patients as far away as the U.K . and the Netherlands! Thank you. We'll be working with a new cohort soon. You can stay updated by following us on our socials, links below.
