The Irene Casteel Endowed Speaker Series will host Megan Connell, PsyD, on May 1, 2025, at 7 p.m. at the Dicke Forum. Northern Review will provide coverage of the event and rebroadcast the lecture in full.
Connell’s professional work has focused on the therapeutic applications of tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs), such as the popular game Dungeons & Dragons. Despite significant promise as a therapeutic tool, Connell says the study of TTRPGs is limited in her field: “For tabletop gaming and Tabletop Role-Playing games the current literature is quite limited…Much of my work in the applied use of tabletop games in therapy has been a call to action for research.”
When asked what motivated her to enter her field of research, Connell said, “I found that while playing TTRPGs myself I was gaining insights into some of my own personal struggles and challenges. I realized that it likely would have taken my months of therapy to gain these insights that I was able to do with just a few games of D&D.”
I want to talk about how we can use gaming in a way to bring us closer together and to find ways to move past fear and hate.
Megan Connell, PsyD
Northern Review asked Connell what ONU students will get out of her lecture. She says, “Students have told me that they did not even consider how gaming can be used in therapy and how some of their hobbies can be helpful. Helping to inspire students to find new ways to bring therapy and other fields into gaming is eye opening.”
Connell has contributed to several works on the therapeutic use of games, including authoring Tabletop Role-Playing Therapy: A Guide for the Clinician Game Master. The book draws from the history of TTRPGs and clinical research to define best practices for the clinical therapeutic application of such games. Connell has also contributed to Video Games and Well-Being, a volume in Palgrave Studies in Cyberpsychology, alongside 2023 Irene Casteel lecturer Rachel Kowert and Ohio Northern University faculty members Mark Cruea and Shane Tilton.
Connell is also the co-founder of Health Quest Innovative Therapeutics, which provides a variety of mental health care services, including the use of TTRPGs in therapy.
Northern Review’s coverage of past Irene Casteel lectures can be found here:
2024: Tobias Buckell, “How Bad Metaphors Hurt Us”
2023: Rachel Kowert, “Moderating the Metaverse”