Building Social Impact in Cambridge: Therapeutic Change Through Minecraft

Image source: Lisa Parladé

“Put your hand up if you’ve played a little game called Minecraft?!”

This was such a brilliant event, organised by the incredible Karen Leigh Anderson at The Bradfield Centre for students from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. I was delighted to be part of the Founders Panel, where we explored the role Cambridge plays in shaping enterprise and innovation.

The students’ questions were insightful and thought-provoking, and I left feeling energised by their curiosity and perspective.

My Cambridge Story

Cambridge has shaped my work in ways I couldn’t have imagined when I first arrived in the city. In 2005, I was offered a place at the University of Cambridge to study Social and Political Sciences as a mature student, after completing my A-Levels at a local further education college. It was an amazing experience – though I wrestled with a fair bit of imposter syndrome during those years!

Years later, I returned to Cambridge through Cambridge Social Ventures at the Judge Business School, where I was part of their incubator programme for social ventures. That support helped me shape my training programme Using Minecraft as a Therapeutic Tool – a social impact initiative designed to help practitioners make therapy more accessible, engaging, and effective for children and young people.

Most recently, I’ve co-created the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-funded Bridging the ChASM project at the Faculty of Education. As part of this, we developed two short films featuring role-played counselling sessions in Minecraft – you can watch them here: https://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/research/programmes/chasm/ 

The Power of Place

At the panel, we reflected on how Cambridge as a place – with its networks, people, and ecosystem – continues to support changemaking. It’s not just about geography; it’s about values, creativity, and collaboration. It felt special to contribute to this conversation alongside inspiring founders; Owen Thompson, Jill Walker, and Dr. Gina Gomez de la Cuesta.

Thank you again to everyone who made the day such a success – especially the students, whose engagement reminded me how important it is to share what we’re building, and why.