Case Study: Lumi Nova and Phoenix
How Phoenix overcame his worries about sleeping away from home overnight.
“I [went] through what the game told me to do, so I imagined sleeping there. And I calmed myself down and I managed to get through it and it was really nice… I felt a bit worried but it was kind of helping me”
Meet Phoenix, a 13-year old boy from London.
Phoenix lives at home with his parents and sister. He describes himself as a “pro gamer” who spends his time playing a variety of different digital games on a variety of different gaming platforms. He is happy at home, communicates well, can express himself and feels comfortable sharing his feelings with his mum and dad. They understand his aversion to busy places and loud noises and they are conscious of the things he finds particularly difficult, such as moving on after making mistakes.
Phoenix had SENCO support and medication whilst at primary school, for his anxiety and his ADHD, which he found really helpful. Now he’s at secondary school, Phoenix feels he’s doing “ok” and he is “not too scared with most things” although there are fears about school, and maths in particular, which affect his ability to progress. He also struggles with social situations; for Phoenix “if I said something wrong, I'll replay it over in my head and that’s scary… I’ll feel bad over the smallest thing… if I dropped someone’s pen on the floor, I'd feel really really bad about it.” Replaying those thoughts leads Phoenix to avoid people or situations, it’s becoming frustrating for him, and the self doubt is getting in the way of him meeting new people and reaching his potential.
Taking a step to face his worries with Lumi Nova
After hearing about Lumi Nova from school, Frankie, Phoenix’s dad, was in favour of a mobile game to engage Phoenix in “self discovery” and provide him with a way to go “on a journey”. In Frankie’s view, “just having something independent that gives him some input and supports him with things that he's finding challenging is quite nice”. On first sight of Lumi Nova, Phoenix put forward his expert judgement: “the graphics are very simplistic, but in a way that's very pleasing and it's very easy to use.”
Very quickly, he got started on his first goal - ‘be able to sleep away from home overnight’. There was a sleepover with his cousin which he knew was coming up. “I chose it because sometimes I get sick in the stomach when I go there… They live really far away so sometimes it's a bit difficult… If I feel anxious, it’s like a sick feeling in my stomach.”
Frankie knew the sleepover was an opportune moment for Phoenix to practise what he’d learned in a supportive environment away from home. “He loves his cousin, so it's a good opportunity to test his limits and do it, you know, run through the process a little bit.”
Early changes since starting Lumi Nova
Phoenix’s first challenge in the game was to imagine himself sleeping away from home. Each first challenge in Lumi Nova is designed to ease the child into the game and provide an exposure task which boosts some self confidence. Phoenix made particular use of the onscreen tips to help him imagine sleeping at his cousins and utilise breathing techniques at the same time. He commented, “one of the things you don't like is being told what to do, isn't it? So it's nice to have… more of a suggestion instead of a command. ‘You might like to do it this way.’ There’s a lot of customisation. So you have a lot of things that you don't feel comfortable with, that [Lumi Nova] can help you with and then there's a lot of tips and stuff that you can do to get over that fear, so it's really nice.”
Phoenix felt a positive change almost immediately with the first challenge. “ I [went] through what the game told me to do, so I imagined sleeping there. And I calmed myself down and I managed to get through it and it was really nice… I felt a bit worried but it was kind of helping me.”
Frankie describes several noticeable changes in Phoenix’s behaviour compared to how things usually go when he has a sleepover: “He packed himself, he was kind of really keen to go. And yeah, he had a nice time without any of the anxiety that he would have had in general - like going up to the train station and stuff, sometimes you can sense from him that he's a little bit anxious - but that was different. And the fact that he acted enthusiastically was quite cool too. And yeah, we normally get a couple of calls, but we checked in with him I think once, and that was it.”
Overcoming challenges playing Lumi Nova
For Phoenix and Frankie, one of the difficulties with Lumi Nova was making time for it consistently over the summer holidays. “The problem is there's been a couple of different activities that we've been trying to do. I need to make sure we factor in some time with the app as well so we can see if we get some more benefits out of it.“
With dedicated time put aside to play regularly, Phoenix was able to complete all the challenges and reach the end of the goal.
Noticing changes after Lumi Nova
Phoenix feels he’s become more independent - “I feel a lot more confident doing things out of my comfort zone” - and he’s even seen that change reflected in other activities he did over the summer - “I went on holiday, I did this glider thing and I imagined it and it helped me through it.“ Frankie agrees, “that was something I was really surprised about. He went up and did that without any motivational talks or anything.”
Through practising the challenges, Phoenix has changed in other ways too. According to Frankie, “There is definitely a difference. … genuinely he's happier… I think he's more talkative. He's always been a quiet communicator… but I do feel like before [playing Lumi Nova] he would be much more inclined to just hide behind a device. And he's much less inclined to do that now, and I'm all the happier for that because I love talking to him at any time.”
“He packed himself, he was kind of really keen to go. And yeah, he had a nice time without any of the anxiety that he would have had in general - like going up to the train station and stuff, sometimes you can sense from him that he’s a little bit anxious - but that was different. And the fact that he acted enthusiastically was quite cool too. And yeah, we normally get a couple of calls, but we checked in with him I think once, and that was it.”