Developing Social Skills through Dungeons & Dragons | Jamie Flecknoe | TEDxCherryCreekWomen

Intentionally using role playing games (RPGs) like Dungeons and Dragons as a tool to help teens develop social skills and manage anxiety is important because it provides a safe space for them to engage in and learn communication, problem solving, self awareness, and frustration tolerance.
In this talk, Jamie Flecknoe explains how the field of Applied RPGs is essential in supporting the growth of teens and gives an example of how she uses moments within the game to shape the lessons her players take home with them. Jamie Flecknoe is a graduate of Towson University where she earned her bachelor’s in English, focusing on creative writing. She attended the University of San Diego and earned her master’s degree in Leadership Development. She spent several years working with teenagers and adults in their early 20’s developing leadership skills through a series of workshops she created for her company. In 2019, Jamie founded the Denver based organization Roll Play Lead and has been running social skill development programming for teens ever since.

As a nerd, even in her early days, it was no surprise that Dungeons & Dragons made its way into Jamie’s life. Not long after learning to play, she made the connection that skill development was embedded into the framework of the game, and she began contemplating what it would look like to merge her educational and professional backgrounds with her passion for the nerd world. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx