A young New Brunswick company is on the cusp of getting the data it needs to assess whether its new video game is effective in helping children cope with anxiety issues.

The company is Fredericton-based Reframe Games, and its video game is called Guide. It has been testing the game with young people, mostly nine to 13-year-olds, at eight clinics in the Fredericton area.

The company’s six-member team will examine the data once the trials are complete. They then plan to release the game publicly in the near future. The goal is to later launch a similar game for other mental health issues.

Once the team has more than one game, it plans to develop a platform that will host a range of games supporting mental health in young people – both its own games and those made by other groups. The company’s big vision is to be the go-to site for mental health games.

“We’re a catalyst for change, using fun as the change agent,” said CEO Jade Yhap in an interview last week.

Reframe Games started when Yhap and fellow under-graduates at the University of New Brunswick began to research the use of games to treat anxiety in young people. As interest in the project grew, the team travelled to various events across North America that focused on psychological treatment for young people.

“At these locations, we had a lot of feedback from parents and professors saying that this would be an excellent program to use to talk among themselves and with kids about this issue,” said Yhap. He enrolled in the Masters of Technology, Management and Entrepreneurship program at UNB and developed the company through the course.

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What the team is now testing is Guide, a game that helps young people understand their anxiety. In the game, the user follows a phoenix chick as she tries to find her way out of a dark forest. “Joining her is a ball of light and acts as the inner voice of someone with anxiety,” said Yhap. The ball of light explains the peril of the game and helps the users understand ways to cope with their own anxiety. “So, it’s what it’s like to have anxiety and overcome it.”

To the child, the game feels like fun, but there is definitely an educational component. Yhap said it helps children understand their condition, it teaches them they are not alone in experiencing anxiety, and it helps them apply coping mechanisms to real-world situations.

What’s impressive for the young company – which doesn’t yet have revenues or investment – is its wide range of international partners. They include Games for Change, which holds an annual festival in New York City and the Technoculture, Art and Games Centre in Montreal. The team was also invited to showcase the game last year at the Smithsonian Institute.

Reframe Games is part of the growing movement to use games to help young people with mental health issues. Yhap estimates there are now about 20 groups working in the space and hopes many of them will eventually be on the Reframe platform.