Whether you’re a therapist, parent, or even teacher, it pays to embrace the gaming geeks around you by learning more about their world. Through efforts like relating to game characters, understanding the games they enjoy, and spending time in their world with them, you can learn new ways to help support them in the real world. Anthony Bean is the author of several books about the therapeutic implications of video games, and he joins host Emily Kircher-Morris to talk about letting your geek flag fly.

ABOUT THE GUEST - Dr. Anthony Bean is a licensed clinical psychologist, video game researcher, and executive director at the Telos Project, a nonprofit mental health clinic in Fort Worth, Texas. Dr. Bean holds a doctorate in philosophy from Pacifica Graduate Institute, with an emphasis in depth psychology, and teaches at Framingham State University in the psychology department. He specializes in the therapeutic implications of video games and gaming, working with children and adolescents, and the use of video game character identification as a therapeutic technique. He passes on his knowledge of Geek Therapy at Geek Therapeutics; an APA/NBCC/ACE/APT accredited company training professionals on how to use Geek Therapy in practice.

He has authored multiple academic articles, book chapters, and the books Working with Video Gamers and Games in Therapy: A Clinician's Guide; The Psychology of Zelda: Linking Our World to the Legend of Zelda Series; The Psychology of Final Fantasy: Surpassing the Limit Break, and Integrating Geek Culture into Therapeutic Practice: A Clinician’s Guide to Geek Therapy.