New to Origins this year, there is an awesome EDU/Therapy focused gaming conference nested inside the whole Origins convention! Check out what’s planned and get easy links to sign up for all the events!

If you want to check out the separate TTRPGkids schedule, please visit the post here (the TTRPGkids schedule will include some events below plus additional events that are organized separately by TTRPGkids).

What is the Game Based Education and Therapy Conference at Origins 2025?

This year at Origins, there’s a bonus conference nested into the convention! This set of workshops, panels, game design jams, and more consists of roughly 20 events that all count towards professional training AND that are open to the general audiences at Origins. Whether you’re a professional or just curious about certain topics, it is worth it to check out and connect with folks who are also interested in applied gaming!

How to sign up for events during the Game Based Educational and Therapy Conference at Origins 2025?

Below is a list of events that are part of the conference so you have an easy way to sign up for the ones you want (it can be a bit hard to find and group them all in the Tabletop Events interface, so I hope this helps). To sign up for and event, you’ll need an Origins badge and then you can just click on the links listed below to jump right to the sign up page for each event and reserve your ticket.

Notations key:

• T = Therapy focused session
• E = EDU focused session
• T/E = multidisiplinary session
• bold time* = Steph from TTRPGkids is a presenter

Friday, June 20

• 10:00 AM – T: The How and Why of Game-Based Practices
• 11:30 AM – T: Preparing Your Practice for Applied Gaming
• 11:30 AM* – E: The Chemistry Between TTRPGs and Education
• 2:00 PM – T/E: Don’t Split the Party
• 2:00 PM – T: Building an Intentional Therapeutic Storyline
• 3:30 PM – T: Therapeutic RPG Isn’t Just D & D
• 4:00 PM – E: Transformative Play: TTRPGs Can Create High Impact Learning
• 5:00 PM – T: Bleeding Out: Using Games to Elicit Therapeutic Change
• 5:00 PM* – T/E: Creating the Next Generation of Problem Solvers with TTRPGs

* additional Friday evening event under review

Saturday, June 21

• 10:00 AM – T/E: Determining Expectations with Intentionality
• 11:30 AM* – E: TTRPGs for PreK to College – Different Age, Same Concept
• 11:30 AM – T: Bringing Characters to Life
• 1:00 PM* – E: Evaluating Games for Classroom Use
• 2:00 PM – T/E: Benefits of “Take That” Mechanics
• 2:30 PM* – E: TTRPGs in EDU – Not Just Math and Reading
• 3:30 PM – T/E: A Place to Belong: TTRPGs & Inclusive Communities
• 5:00 PM – E: Board Games in the Classroom: Beyond Themed Monopoly

* additional Saturday evening event under review

I’m looking forward to both presenting at and attending the conference myself, and I hope to see you there! If you’ll be attending or if you have any questions about the event, please let me know!

Also, swing over to this post to check out TTRPGkids event at Origins. In addition to some of the events listed above, TTRPGkids is also running a couple games, a self-publisher meet and greet, and a panel on creating inclusive gaming spaces that you won’t want to miss!

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