Cathartic Candles, Geeky Good & Remoting Rocks 🕯️

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Cathartic Candles and Geeky Goodness 

Therapists are using role-play games to help patients open up. No, not the kinky kind. More like Dungeons and Dragons, The Witcher, Gloomhaven or Star Wars.

It’s called Game Therapy and the counsellors/psychologists are referred to as Therapeutic Game Masters or Geek Therapists. 

How It Works?

  • Players sit around a table, assuming personas of fictional characters. 
  • Similar to Drama Therapy, players can act out scenarios in a safe, controlled, psychologically informed environment to facilitate creativity, imagination, learning, insight, and growth.

However, it differs from traditional Drama Therapy or Improv theatre in that it uses specific RPG or video games to intentionally achieve certain therapeutic goals.

And you get to play a game. So it's fun. 😃

How It Started

The first startup to set the stage for game therapy was Game to Grow. Founded in 2017, it offers therapeutically applied TTRPGs to help people deal with trauma and other issues. The organization that started with 12-15 clients, has grown to serving around 150 clients today.

Since then, several startups, such as Geek Therapeutics,  Game Therapy UK and The Bodhana Group have propped up around the globe using innovative games to help people.

Does It Work? 

It’s pretty widely known that video games can help people deal with mental issues. And role-playing can be especially helpful for people who've experienced trauma and oppression.

For instance, one mental health patient (who shall remain anonymous) said the game Ten Candles helped her come to terms with her own mortality. The game is played in complete darkness, with the exception of 10 candles. A candle is extinguished at the end of each scene, and by the time the last candle blows out, all the characters around the table are dead. Despite the game’s characters’ hopeless condition, at the end, the group members came to accept that the game (or life) was worth it, even though death was inevitable. 🕯️



Youth Retirement Coins

50% of Young People Want Crypto in 401(k). 👛

According to a recent survey by US asset managers; 

  • About 45% of millennials and 46% of Gen Z “wish” to invest in cryptocurrencies as part of their (401k) retirement plan.
  • In fact, 43% of Gen Z and 47% of millennials have already invested in cryptocurrencies outside their 401(k) accounts. 

This bubbling interest in cryptocurrencies among the youth is quite in contrast with the larger market sentiments and the apparent crypto winter. 

However, since more young investors are warming up to digital assets, some companies have begun providing options to include crypto as part of their retirement plans. This is especially true for startups and small businesses who see crypto investments as a hedge against grumpy markets.

Earlier in April, one of the world’s biggest asset managers, Fidelity Investments, revealed that it would allow holders of its 401(k) retirement savings accounts to invest up to 20% of their balance in Bitcoin.



Remote Work: Demands and Declines 

The number of available remote jobs on LinkedIn declined sharply, from around 20% at its peak in March to 14% in September 2022. 〽️

And according to a new report on work trends, only 10% to 15% of job listings allowed fully-remote work in Q1 and Q2 this year. 

What's more? Some jobs that are advertised as remote have at least some in-office expectations, which applicants don't learn of until midway through the hiring process. Sometimes, applicants click on jobs that are tagged in as remote. But when they scroll down to the requirements, it reads: ‘three days a week in our office’.

Tagging a job listing as “remote” has become somewhat of a marketing gimmick on LinkedIn and Indeed. It helps attract remote workers and hopes that the jobs benefits offered will persuade the applicant to compromise on a few office days.

But despite this apparent ruse and decline in availability of remote jobs, more people are trying to snag them. According to LinkedIn, about 62% of job seekers applied to at least one remote role in September.



Googliness Crackdown

Major countries from every continent have either filed antitrust or privacy violation lawsuits against Google or are probing the company. 

All the countries where Google is in trouble 🔥

  • Most recently, India’s antitrust agency, slapped penalties totaling $275 million on Google for abusing its dominance in the Indian Play Store market. 
  • A similar lawsuit is going on in the Netherlands over Google’s Play Store payment rules.
  • The EU has already fined Google more than $8.2 billion in recent years over antitrust practices.
  • In the US, an ongoing lawsuit alleges that the company has monopolized the ad-tech market by abusing its access to data.
  • In South Korea, a privacy commission fined Google $50 million for using data from other websites and apps to generate customized advertisements. 
  • Google paid $528 million in fines to resolve a dispute in France related to news publishers displaying copyrighted content.
  • An Australian court ordered Google to pay $43 million in penalties for misleading users on collection of their personal location data.

Shorts ⏳
Father of Android  - The famed creator of Android has a new startup aimed at security and surveillance.

Losing Techies - The 20 Richest Tech Billionaires have lost nearly half a trillion dollars this year.

Losing Savings - Consumer savings are estimated to have fallen by 90%, from $6.5 trillion down to $650 billion.

Love in Beauty - Former Miss Argentina and ex-Miss Puerto Rico, are getting married. The beauty pageant winners announced their wedding through an Instagram reel.

The Dinosaur Grows- The decentralized social network Mastodon has grown to 655K users as people port out of Twitter in wake of Musk’s takeover.


Stash Recommends: Tools to Explore
🌎 SustainabillA cloud platform that helps CSR and procurement teams build future-proof sustainability components like due diligence and climate protection.

⚖️ The Legal AssistantA tool designed to streamline and simplify the handling of legal affairs and can be used in either a cloud-based or on-premise setting.

✍️ LiquidTextA note-taking system that facilitates collaboration, note-relationship building, search management, and more for enterprises.

⛓️ Chainsync: An enterprise-level software for service-based franchises and multi-location corporations to assist them in managing and growing.


 
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