Pesky gNATs: CBT for Kids

One of the big moves in the world of mental health lately, has been the focus of improving mindfulness skills and mental health awareness in children. Schools in the UK and Ireland are now looking at reflection exercises as a way of teaching students to look after and understand their minds.

But one of the most complicated treatments for mental illness is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and it's something psychiatrists have struggled to adapt for children. CBT is a form of psychotherapy which focuses on changing your unhelpful thoughts and behaviours.

In early September I was invited out to UCD and given the opportunity to try out a kid-friendly CBT therapy tool, Pesky gNATs.

Pesky gNATs (PeskygNATs.com) is a computer game and associated app created to aid counsellors in their work with children. Designed for those aged 9+, it’s an accessible technology for young people in counselling to help them learn about CBT.

They describe their vision as this:

Pesky gNATs is a computer supported CBT intervention for young people. It combines gaming and mobile technology with the highest quality psychological content to support evidence-based interventions with young people aged 9-17.

Creator Gary O’Reilly told me it is a way of 'keeping the therapist in therapy technology' in a world that’s turning more and more to online technology to aid with mental health work.

When I started to learn CBT I was 20 years old, and the ideas and concepts behind it were unfamiliar to me. The game provides a useful addition to personal counselling for young people that is a child-friendly teaching of CBT. The aim is, that for these kids, the concepts will in ingrained at a young age and will aid the users for the rest of their lives. However, it is important to note that the game is run in conjunction with a professional counsellor who will take the child for regular one-on-one sessions that incorporate the game into the talking therapy.

With CBT, there are two main learnings;

1) Thoughts, Feelings and Behaviours go together

2) Negative Automatic Thoughts (or, gNATs) can be changed.

Teaching kids that everyone has Negative Automatic Thoughts, or gNATs, is the most fundamental concept of the game. While everyone has them, some people’s gNATs are more pronounced.

The game takes place on a fictional island where a David Attenborough type figure teaches users about gNATs, including how to hunt and trap them. It’s taking some of psychology’s most difficult concepts and simplifying them for the age group, and also for people like me who still can’t get their heads around how complex the brain really is.

 ‘Cognitive monitoring’ becomes gNAT trapping, ‘cognitive restructuring’ becomes gNAT swatting, while ‘Core Beliefs’ are discovered through hunting gNATs back to their Hives. It's all very clever!

The game teaches users to keep an explorers blog of their findings, providing them an opportunity to reflect and relate the concepts to their everyday life. There is also an opportunity to reflect with an end-of-session session rating scale.

The game also emphasises learning useful skills like relaxation breathing, and a body scan among other mindfulness techniques.

The three components of Therapy + Computer + Homework App work together to allow users to learn and then practice CBT in their day-to-day life. When a user completes their post-session homework, they are rewarded with fun games.

On top of the aid for professionals, Pesky gNATs also offers a free Mindful gNATs app that anyone can use. I've been using it ever since to work on my breathing techniques and try body scanning. Check out the 'Mindful things to do...' below:

What do you think of Pesky gNATs? Will it help young people understand the difficult concepts of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy?