Telehealth across California · In-person in Nevada City
Real therapy. In a world they already love.
Growing Home Counseling offers Minecraft-based therapy for kids, teens, and young adults in California — a structured, clinician-led approach that meets clients where they are.
It's a fair question — and you deserve a straight answer. Minecraft therapy is structured, clinician-led psychotherapy that happens to take place inside a video game. Here's what that actually means.
See how it works — a clinician's perspective
This is real therapy
Every session is guided by clinical goals — not just open play. The therapist is an active participant throughout, tracking what's happening and steering it toward meaningful growth.
The clinician is always present
The therapist is in the game with your child every single session. There is no unsupervised play, no time "just goofing off." The therapist observes, engages, and guides in real time.
The game is a medium, not the treatment
Therapists have used art, sand trays, and play for nearly 100 years — Minecraft is the same idea. The game creates a shared space where emotions, relationships, and behaviors surface naturally and can be worked with therapeutically.
Privacy-first platform
Sessions use Minecraft Education Edition — a version built for schools and therapeutic settings with enhanced privacy controls. Each client has a private world that only they and the therapist can access, only during scheduled sessions.
Rooted in established practice
Play therapy and expressive arts therapy have been practiced for close to a century. Minecraft therapy builds on these traditions with a tool today's clients already know and trust.
No extra cost for the game
Clients don't need to purchase Minecraft or any software. Everything needed for sessions is provided — the only requirement is a reliable internet connection and a device to connect from.
The evidence
What the research says
Emerging research supports what many clinicians are already seeing in practice: game-based and play-based approaches don't just make therapy more fun — they make it more effective.
100%
of Minecraft therapy groups met consistently for 5+ sessions, compared to 45% of traditional youth groups
10
clinicians now running Minecraft therapy programs at WellPower — including for pre-adolescent boys, the hardest-to-engage population
~100
years of play therapy tradition that Minecraft therapy is built on
Peer-reviewed support for neurodivergent youth
A peer-reviewed study found that therapeutically applied Minecraft groups support social engagement, confidence, and competence in youth — with particular benefits for neurodivergent clients. Importantly, the game's multiple modes of interaction (building, chatting, avatar-based expression) give clients more communication autonomy than traditional talk therapy alone.
Program data from WellPower's Minecraft therapy groups showed that 100% of groups met consistently for 5 or more sessions — compared to just 45% of traditional youth therapy groups. Pre-adolescent boys, who are typically the most difficult group to engage, were among the most enthusiastic participants.
A systematic review in Frontiers in Psychiatry found that combining evidence-based therapeutic techniques with game-based formats improves treatment adherence and engagement in children and adolescents — making skill-building feel less intrusive and more motivating.
Frontiers in Psychiatry, systematic review (2020)
A note on the evidence: Minecraft therapy is a relatively young modality, and research is still developing. The studies cited here are peer-reviewed and promising — but we believe in being honest about what we know and what we're still learning. Emerging research supports what many clinicians are already seeing in practice: for the right client, this approach can open doors that traditional therapy couldn't.
Who benefits
Who is Minecraft therapy for?
No diagnosis required. Minecraft therapy is a flexible approach that tends to work especially well for clients who haven't connected with traditional talk therapy — but it's not limited to them.
Neurodivergent clients
Autistic clients, those with ADHD, and others who think and process differently often thrive in a structured, predictable environment with clear visual cues.
Anxiety & social anxiety
Having a screen and an avatar can lower the social threat enough that real connection — and real therapeutic work — becomes possible.
Talk therapy dropouts
Clients who've tried therapy and found it awkward, boring, or unrelatable. If sitting across from someone and talking hasn't worked, this is a genuinely different approach.
Social skill challenges
Peer connection difficulties, loneliness, or struggles reading social dynamics — the game creates a low-stakes space to practice.
Screen-comfortable clients
Kids and teens who feel genuinely at ease with a screen in front of them — and find eye contact or in-person interaction harder to navigate.
Young adults in transition
Navigating isolation, identity, or major life change. Especially those who feel like traditional therapy doesn't quite speak their language.
Minecraft fans
Sometimes the best reason is the simplest: a client who loves the game and might open up through it in ways they never expected.
No diagnosis needed
Clients without a formal DSM diagnosis who still struggle with confidence, connection, engagement, or just feeling understood.
Not sure if it's a fit? That's exactly what the free consultation is for. There's no pressure, no commitment — just a conversation about what's going on and whether this approach might help.
Reach out for a free consult
What families are saying
From the families we work with
Real experiences from clients and families who've been through the process.
"I was skeptical that Minecraft could be therapy — honestly I thought it was a gimmick. After eight sessions, my son was talking about feelings he'd never once mentioned in two years of traditional therapy. I don't fully understand why it works. I just know it does."
— Parent of a 12-year-old client
"I've done therapy before and hated it. This felt different from the first session — like I wasn't being analyzed, I was just building something. The talking happened kind of naturally. I didn't even notice until I looked back."
— Teen client, age 15
"My daughter has ADHD and anxiety — every therapist we'd tried said she was 'hard to engage.' She's been engaged in Minecraft therapy for months. She asks when her next session is. That has never happened before."
— Parent of a 10-year-old client
The process
How sessions work
Minecraft therapy follows the same structure as any evidence-based therapeutic approach — with one difference: it happens in a world your client already knows.
Free consultation
Start with a no-pressure phone or video call — for parents, caregivers, teens, or young adults reaching out directly. We'll talk about what's going on and whether this approach is a good fit.
Intake
A more thorough conversation to understand the client's history, goals, strengths, and what they're hoping to work on. Paperwork and releases are handled here too.
Private world setup
A dedicated Minecraft world is created for each client — completely private, never shared, only accessible during scheduled sessions. No random players, no public servers.
Sessions — in-world together
The therapist and client are in the game together throughout every session. Many sessions begin with a grounding activity — often a "safe space" build, a client-directed structure that becomes a home base across the work together. From there, activities might include building scenes that represent relationships or experiences (similar to sandtray therapy), collaborative projects to develop rapport and trust, or premade therapeutic worlds designed for specific goals like emotional awareness and online safety. The therapist tracks the coordinates of significant builds, so the two of you can return to meaningful places in future sessions. Multiple ways of communicating are available — through building, through an avatar, through conversation — which takes pressure off verbal expression alone. It's that flexibility that often makes this approach land differently.
Reflection & processing
What comes up in the game gets connected to real life. The therapist checks in on what the client noticed, felt, or discovered — and helps bridge it to the goals they're working toward. This part may feel like more traditional therapy, and that's intentional: the game creates the opening; the reflection is where the work deepens.
Progress over time
Regular check-ins, goal adjustments as needed, and family communication as appropriate. Therapy is always evolving — and the approach adapts with the client.
"Is this just playing video games?"
It's a fair question — and the honest answer is no. The therapist is present in every session, actively tracking what's happening in the game and guiding it with clinical intention. Clients may explore, build, or create freely in some moments, but the therapist is always observing themes, tracking emotional responses, and steering toward the goals the client came in with. The game is the medium. The therapy is real.
A note on privacy & safety online
Minecraft Education Edition was chosen specifically because it does not connect to public servers and has no outside access whatsoever. Only people you invite — with a session-specific code that changes every appointment — can join. Your child's world cannot be stumbled into, and there are no strangers, no chat from outside users, and no public multiplayer of any kind. For families who want to go deeper on general Minecraft safety beyond the therapy context, these resources are worth bookmarking:
Supervised by Daniela Di Piero, LMFT #88547 · Growing Home Counseling
I'm a trauma-informed, non-pathologizing therapist based in Nevada City. I work with kids, teens, adults, and couples navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, ADHD, and major life transitions — and I've found that the path through those struggles often looks very different than what people expect when they first walk in.
What drew me to game-based therapy was simple: I kept noticing that some of the most meaningful moments in sessions happened not during structured talk, but when clients had something to do with their hands — something to build, something to inhabit. Minecraft gives kids and teens a creative sandbox where they can show me things they'd struggle to put into words. A fortress with no doors. A house with every room labeled. A world they rebuild the same way every single time. That's rich material, and it's available to clients who might otherwise sit in silence or say "I don't know" to every question.
I hold a Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Saybrook University and completed my undergraduate work in Psychology at the University of Kansas. I've been in practice since 2025, working under the supervision of Daniela Di Piero, LMFT.
My approach
I work from a person-centered, strength-based foundation — which means I'm less interested in diagnosing what's wrong with you and more interested in understanding what's gotten in the way. I draw on solution-focused techniques to identify what's already working and build from there, and I weave in expressive arts, sandplay, and play therapy when those modalities open doors that talk alone doesn't.
Good therapy depends on a comfortable connection. If you're curious whether my approach might be a fit, I welcome a free 15-minute phone consultation — no pressure, just a chance to ask questions and get a sense of each other.
I offer telehealth sessions to anyone in California, and in-person sessions in the Nevada City area. Whether you're local or across the state, we can find a format that works.
Access & coverage
Getting started shouldn't be hard
Clients with Partnership Health Plan of California or Anthem Medi-Cal are likely to pay $0 out of pocket for sessions. Private pay rate is $170/session. Sliding scale available.
Coverage varies — reach out to verify your specific benefits before starting.
Partnership Health Plan (Medi-Cal)
Likely $0 out of pocket for eligible clients
Anthem Medi-Cal
Accepted — contact to verify your coverage
Telehealth — statewide
Available to all California residents
In-person — Nevada City area
Local sessions available
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Whatever's on your mind — it's probably here. If not, reach out.
For parents & caregivers
Real therapy. Every session has clinical structure, goals, and a licensed professional (under supervision) who is actively present and guiding what happens in the game. Minecraft is a medium — like art therapy uses paint or sand tray uses a box of sand. The game creates a space where emotions, relationship dynamics, and behavioral patterns show up naturally. The therapist's job is to notice them, work with them, and help the client connect what happens in the game to what's happening in their life. It's not recreational gaming with a therapist watching. It's therapy that happens to be in a game.
Sessions use Minecraft Education Edition — not the standard consumer version of the game. Education Edition is designed for institutional settings (schools, clinics) with privacy controls and safety features that far exceed the regular game. Each client's world is private: it cannot be accessed by anyone other than the client and the therapist, and only during scheduled sessions. There are no public servers, no random players, and no outside contact of any kind. Your child is never exposed to other users online.
It's a reasonable concern, and one worth discussing directly. Most families don't report increased screen time demands from Minecraft therapy — partly because the sessions are structured and bounded (they start and end at a set time, like any appointment), and partly because the therapeutic context is quite different from recreational gaming. That said, if your family has concerns about gaming habits, that's something to bring up in the consultation. We can talk through it openly and figure out whether this approach is a good fit given your specific situation.
Not a problem at all. A significant portion of clients come in with no Minecraft experience, and that's completely fine. Part of early sessions may involve learning the basics of the game — which is itself therapeutically useful (navigating something new, asking for help, tolerating frustration). Familiarity with Minecraft is not required, and there's no prior gaming skill needed to benefit.
We track progress against the goals established during intake and revisit them regularly. You'll receive updates appropriate to the client's age and consent — for minors, parent communication is built into the process. Beyond the formal check-ins, the most reliable signal is usually the client themselves: Are they more willing to go? Are they talking more at home? Are the presenting challenges showing any movement? We'll look for those signs together.
Yes — both legally and technically. Clinically, everything shared in session is confidential under standard therapy ethics and California law, with the same exceptions that apply to any therapy (imminent safety concerns). Technically, the game world is private and inaccessible to anyone other than the therapist and client. Records are managed with HIPAA-compliant practices. If you have specific privacy questions, please bring them up in the consultation.
No. Clients do not need to purchase Minecraft or any software. Minecraft Education Edition access is provided as part of the service. All you need is a device (laptop, desktop, or tablet) with a reliable internet connection. If there are device or connectivity limitations, let's talk — we may be able to find solutions.
Generally, no — and for good reason. The private, one-on-one (or therapist + small group) format is what makes the therapeutic space feel safe enough for real work to happen. Having a parent in the room changes that dynamic significantly, particularly for teens and older children. There are exceptions for younger children in early sessions, and for certain clinical reasons. Parent involvement happens through check-ins outside of session — which are built into the process.
Growing Home Counseling serves children, teens, and young adults. The sweet spot for Minecraft therapy tends to be roughly ages 7–25, though this varies by individual. If you're wondering whether your child or young adult is a good age fit, the consultation is the place to find out — there's no commitment involved.
No. Sessions use Minecraft Education Edition, which requires both a verified Microsoft account on the practice's system and a unique join code that changes every session. There is no way for outside parties to stumble into a session. Your child's world exists only during scheduled session time — it is not running, accessible, or visible between appointments.
Minecraft Education Edition — not the standard consumer version of Minecraft (Java or Bedrock). These are different products and the regular versions won't work for sessions. Your therapist will provide everything you need to get set up, including login credentials and a download link. Full step-by-step setup instructions are available on the Current Clients page.
No. The therapist provides access to Minecraft Education Edition at no additional cost. There is nothing for families to purchase. The only requirements are a compatible device (Windows, Mac, iPad, or Chromebook) and a reliable internet connection.
Builds live in a private world that only your child and the therapist can access. At the end of treatment, you and your therapist will discuss together what happens to the world — some clients like to receive a copy as a keepsake, others prefer to let it go as part of the closure process. Either way, nothing is shared, published, or shown to anyone outside the therapeutic relationship without explicit consent.
For teens & young adults
Nope. There's no skill level required, no survival mode pressure, no way to "lose." You can be a first-timer or someone who's been playing for years — neither gives you an advantage in therapy. What matters is what comes up while you're playing, not how good your builds are.
Honestly? The beginning of any therapy is a little weird. That's normal. But Minecraft therapy tends to feel less weird than traditional therapy faster — because there's something to do, something to look at, something to talk about that isn't just "so how are you feeling." A lot of clients find that they forget to be awkward because they're actually doing something. Give it a session or two.
No. Whatever you build, explore, or do in the game is information — not a grade. Therapists are trained to be curious about what clients create and how they play, not to evaluate it. There are no right answers and nothing you could do in a Minecraft session that would make a good therapist think less of you.
Sort of. You won't be forced to talk, and silence in session is okay. But the therapist will still be present and engaged — noticing what you're doing and occasionally checking in. You won't just be left alone to mine for an hour. The goal is to find a pace that feels comfortable for you, and talking usually becomes easier over time when it doesn't feel forced. If you've tried therapy before and felt put on the spot, this tends to be a different experience.
General
Probably, yes — though the official name is a little different. "Minecraft therapy" is the colloquial term that's spread through parent communities, schools, and word-of-mouth, and it describes exactly the approach offered here. The clinical and research literature tends to use the phrase "therapeutically applied Minecraft" (you'll see this in peer-reviewed studies), and the platform itself is Minecraft Education Edition, which is a Microsoft product.
To be clear: Growing Home Counseling is an independent private practice, not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft or Mojang. We use Minecraft Education Edition as a therapeutic tool the same way an art therapist uses paint or a sand tray therapist uses a sandbox — it's the medium, not the brand, that makes the therapy work.
So if someone told you to look into "Minecraft therapy" — this is almost certainly what they meant. The free consultation is the best place to find out if it's the right fit for your situation.
Growing Home Counseling accepts Partnership Health Plan of California (managed Medi-Cal). Eligible clients may pay $0 out of pocket. Coverage varies by plan and individual situation — reach out to verify your specific benefits before getting started. If you have other insurance or are planning to pay out of pocket, let's talk about what works for your situation.
Fill out the contact form below, or reach out directly by phone or email. The first step is a free consultation — a low-key conversation with no commitment required. We'll talk about what's going on, answer questions, and figure out together whether this is a good fit. If it is, we'll schedule an intake and go from there.
For Minecraft therapy specifically, the format of the sessions is almost identical — the game is played on the client's own device either way. The difference is physical presence: in-person sessions happen at the Nevada City office, which some clients and families prefer for the face-to-face connection before and after the game time. Telehealth sessions can happen from anywhere in California, with no commute. Both formats are clinically effective — it mostly comes down to preference and logistics.
Get in touch
Reach out — no pressure, no commitment
Whether you're a parent with questions, a teen or young adult curious about something different, or you're just not sure yet — this is the right first step. Fill out the form and I'll be in touch within a couple of business days.
The consultation is free. There's no obligation to continue after the first conversation. You don't have to have everything figured out before you reach out.
Location
Growing Home Counseling · Nevada City, CA
