Latest news with #MarkCampbell
RTÉ News
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Can videogames improve mental health and wellbeing?
The misconception that violent videogames cause aggression in children has persisted since the dawn of modern gaming. Decades of research has failed to find any real support for these concerns. Recent research has, in fact, revealed that even the most typically violent videogames can provide for therapeutic experiences. "Gaming" is no longer a niche, easily-stereotyped hobby. Billions of people around the world are playing videogames. Mobile games are permeating the app market. Established game franchises like Minecraft and Sonic the Hedgehog are producing hit box office films. It's safe to say that gaming has become mainstream. Naturally, our collective interest in videogames has caught the attention of researchers and clinicians. Their exploration of our gaming experiences has revealed that videogames enable us to fulfil some of our psychological needs. Staying grounded First-person shooter games (like Call of Duty or Halo) are hugely popular and intrinsically violent. These games do what they say on the tin: players experience all the action of combat-based gameplay from a first-person perspective, producing a highly immersive gaming experience. Beyond their appeal to a broad demographic of players, these games have been repeatedly reported by veterans as helpful in managing their combat trauma. From RTÉ Radio 1's Brendan O'Connor, 'the Playstation changed the gaming landscape' Research with US veterans returned from service in Iraq or Afghanistan found that combat-themed first-person shooter games helped veterans cope with returning to civilian life. Whether it was channelling their military training in a safe environment, or learning to manage physical symptoms of their combat trauma, the veterans clearly viewed these games as valuable therapeutic, recreational outlets. A similar, larger study also found that veterans were able to work through their military-related issues by reliving combat through videogames. These studies also revealed the risk of veterans experiencing distressing flashbacks while gaming, or developing unhealthy gaming patterns. Balancing these risks with the very real benefits, it seems that guidance from experts (in gaming and psychotherapy) could prove extremely beneficial to people dealing with combat trauma. Escaping reality Veterans in the studies above also relished the simple joy of finessing skills and connecting socially with other gamers. For those who enjoy playing them, games are ultimately a fun way to spend time. They're engaging, immersive, and allow us to escape the stress and strain of everyday life. From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, Prof. Mark Campbell from the University of Limerick on research showing the positive impacts of gaming Research studies support the claim that moderate amounts of gaming improves mood, relieves stress and enables us to manage our emotions. In a recent review published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research: Mental Health, 26 studies directly compared gaming with other strategies to manage stress or anxiety. In 17 of these studies, gaming was found to be more effective at relieving stress or anxiety compared to guided relaxation, surfing the web, watching a film and even anxiety medication. It's also telling that we collectively increased the amount of time spent gaming during the pandemic. Granted, our entertainment options were limited, but testimonials from research show people used videogames as a way to escape reality, reduce distress and connect socially during lockdowns. This can also be seen in the runaway popularity of certain games during the pandemic. Whether it was basking in the idyllic island life of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, adventuring through the vast and beautiful landscapes of Breath of the Wild or frantically interrogating your teammates to identify the impostor in Among Us, games provided us with refuge from the fear and anxiety that coloured every relentless day of the pandemic's lockdown. Using games in therapy Using games in therapy is not a new concept. The idea that play allows children to express and process complex experiences has been around for nearly 100 years, and modern play therapy was formally established in the 1960s. Games from the Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and Lego Star Wars franchises have all been harnessed by therapists to help form connections with, and enhance the treatment of, young children. One therapist report details how he treated a 10-year old boy primarily using videogames. The boy had previously suffered physical and verbal abuse, and his parents were concerned about his tendencies towards aggression, anxiety, depression and heavy gaming. The boy gamed extensively, favouring the Borderlands trilogy (a series of combat-focussed, first-person shooter games). Realising that the hero's journey of these games was helping the boy process his own traumatic experiences, the therapist was able to guide the boy in relating his gaming experiences to the 'heroic' and 'villainous' behaviours of his real life. From TEDxUCD, consultant psychologist John Francis Leader on combining what we have learnt from media and entertainment with an understanding of therapeutic psychology to assist us in leading healthier, happier lives However, games (and their potential therapeutic benefit) are decidedly not just for kids anymore. In some ways, videogames render play therapy a more appealing treatment option for people of all ages. As one study argues, clients who might balk at a physical sand tray (a classic tool of traditional play therapy) could be tempted to explore and build in a sandbox game like Minecraft. 'Sandbox' describes a diverse genre of videogames where the main point is to explore and be creative; there are no fixed objectives or storylines to follow, players have total freedom to play as they please. This is just one example of how games might be incorporated into therapy. As our technology use continues to evolve, videogames might provide a valuable pathway to levelling up our approach to psychological wellbeing.
The Independent
18-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Transfers are common across college sports. Athletes see irony in being criticized as disloyal
Hailey Van Lith was one year away from tying a bow on a traditional college career at Louisville and being cemented as one of the most decorated four-year starters in Cardinals history. She had just led her team to its third straight Elite Eight appearance and put up career-high numbers, including 19.7 points per game. But the rising senior from Wenatchee, Washington, had other plans. With WNBA aspirations on her mind, Van Lith swapped Louisville red for LSU purple and gold and embarked on a new journey in Baton Rouge. Her lone season included another run to the Elite Eight and it was back to the transfer portal. Coach Mark Campbell's pro-style offense caught her eye, and she decided her fifth and final year of eligibility would be spent at TCU. College sports was once rooted in tradition, school pride and loyalty, but those expectations are changing if not fading in a landscape where athletes have won the ability to transfer season to season, year to year. Some are painted as disloyal or selfish but Van Lith and others don't see it that way. 'Whenever you transfer, you always expect pushback,' Van Lith told The Associated Press. 'I can't tell you how many podcasts I've seen on people discussing my choices to go to this school and that school, and the theories that are thrown out there are all wrong. But it's just, you learn to live in harmony with that, and at the end of the day, I just decided I'm no longer going to let false assumptions disrupt my peace.' One of the biggest misconceptions, Van Lith said, is that her transfer decisions were guided by NIL compensation. She was able to look past accusations of being a 'money chaser' or a 'trophy chaser' and find solace knowing onlookers didn't have the full picture. 'Multiple of the schools that I went to, I actually never got a check from," she said. "I think that in transfer culture now, a lot of people automatically assume that it has to do with the collective money or now I guess it's revenue share. But it just depends on the person, and for me, it was all basketball decisions.' A level playing field Ann Skeet, senior director of Leadership Ethics at Santa Clara's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, said all parties should be held to the same standards. Coaches and athletic directors take new jobs, navigating buyouts and ill will along the way. 'I do think one of the realities of sport in this day and age is that people are making changes more often than they used to,' Skeet said. 'How they communicate what their decision is, how much time they give people, how frequently they're changing teams, all of those things should be considered, and I think it's fair to hold the coaches and players to equal standards.' Skeet acknowledged the pressure on athletes navigating a new, professional-like industry at a young age. Millions of dollars in name, image and likeness compensation is already flowing even before schools start cutting checks after July 1 under the NCAA antitrust settlement. 'The reality is, NIL is bringing market pressures to college sports in a way that we haven't experienced before, and so players are having to trade off and think about what serves their own personal interests vs. what serves the team interests in ways that they haven't had to consider in the past," she said. Complicated decisions While Van Lith was deciding her future, running back Ray Davis was awaiting his. In his sole season at Kentucky, Davis rushed for 1,129 yards on 199 carries and led the SEC with 21 touchdowns from scrimmage. His production was enough to garner interest from NFL scouts. Similar to Van Lith, Davis's winding road to the pros involved several stops. Before Kentucky, he had two-year stints at Temple (2019-2021) and Vanderbilt (2021-2023). Transferring to Kentucky meant Davis would suit up for his third team in five years, and he knew moving from one SEC school to the next could stir the pot. The decision wasn't an easy one. 'It was super difficult,' Davis said. 'It took days, literally almost weeks to just really make a decision. And when I made the decision, I just had to live with it. I couldn't think twice about it. I had to be confident.' The move paid off. Davis gained national attention and was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the fourth round of the 2024 draft. But while his draft stock soared, the backlash from transferring a second time took a toll. 'Mentally it sucks because, you know, as a kid when you're 18, 19 or whatever, you're being told, 'Hey he's leaving because he's disloyal,' and that's not what it is,' Davis said. He focused on what he could control. 'I think it's really about how you handle it yourself, how you internalize it yourself, and how you go about walking in the building each and every day. If you be like, `Ah, people are looking at me like I'm not an honest and disloyal person,' then that's going to hurt you mentally. But if you walk into a place where you're confident in who you are, then I think you'll succeed,' Davis told AP. The impacts Transfer decisions, regardless of the underlying factor, can lead to unfavorable public perceptions — or worse. A 2024 study found a cross-section of abusive content directed toward college athletes on social media. 'It certainly is their right to transfer, but then they will also develop whatever reputation they develop as a result of the choices they make. So people who transfer multiple times are going to be identified in that way,' Skeet said. 'It goes with the territory, as they say.' Both Van Lith and Davis noted the irony in receiving blowback when team personnel can seek new ventures without repercussions. 'Coaches leave. Directors leave. Everybody has the opportunity to leave. So for players, we've got to have that opportunity too,' Davis said. Added Van Lith: 'A lot of times, the loyalty is placed on the responsibility of the players, but you see coaches leave all the time to better their financial situation, to make more money, to do better for their family. When people talk about loyalty, I really challenge them to put into perspective, if they would feel the same if a coach left.' ___
Associated Press
18-06-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Transfers are common across college sports. Athletes see irony in being criticized as disloyal
Hailey Van Lith was one year away from tying a bow on a traditional college career at Louisville and being cemented as one of the most decorated four-year starters in Cardinals history. She had just led her team to its third straight Elite Eight appearance and put up career-high numbers, including 19.7 points per game. But the rising senior from Wenatchee, Washington, had other plans. With WNBA aspirations on her mind, Van Lith swapped Louisville red for LSU purple and gold and embarked on a new journey in Baton Rouge. Her lone season included another run to the Elite Eight and it was back to the transfer portal. Coach Mark Campbell's pro-style offense caught her eye, and she decided her fifth and final year of eligibility would be spent at TCU. College sports was once rooted in tradition, school pride and loyalty, but those expectations are changing if not fading in a landscape where athletes have won the ability to transfer season to season, year to year. Some are painted as disloyal or selfish but Van Lith and others don't see it that way. 'Whenever you transfer, you always expect pushback,' Van Lith told The Associated Press. 'I can't tell you how many podcasts I've seen on people discussing my choices to go to this school and that school, and the theories that are thrown out there are all wrong. But it's just, you learn to live in harmony with that, and at the end of the day, I just decided I'm no longer going to let false assumptions disrupt my peace.' One of the biggest misconceptions, Van Lith said, is that her transfer decisions were guided by NIL compensation. She was able to look past accusations of being a 'money chaser' or a 'trophy chaser' and find solace knowing onlookers didn't have the full picture. 'Multiple of the schools that I went to, I actually never got a check from,' she said. 'I think that in transfer culture now, a lot of people automatically assume that it has to do with the collective money or now I guess it's revenue share. But it just depends on the person, and for me, it was all basketball decisions.' A level playing field Ann Skeet, senior director of Leadership Ethics at Santa Clara's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, said all parties should be held to the same standards. Coaches and athletic directors take new jobs, navigating buyouts and ill will along the way. 'I do think one of the realities of sport in this day and age is that people are making changes more often than they used to,' Skeet said. 'How they communicate what their decision is, how much time they give people, how frequently they're changing teams, all of those things should be considered, and I think it's fair to hold the coaches and players to equal standards.' Skeet acknowledged the pressure on athletes navigating a new, professional-like industry at a young age. Millions of dollars in name, image and likeness compensation is already flowing even before schools start cutting checks after July 1 under the NCAA antitrust settlement. 'The reality is, NIL is bringing market pressures to college sports in a way that we haven't experienced before, and so players are having to trade off and think about what serves their own personal interests vs. what serves the team interests in ways that they haven't had to consider in the past,' she said. Complicated decisions While Van Lith was deciding her future, running back Ray Davis was awaiting his. In his sole season at Kentucky, Davis rushed for 1,129 yards on 199 carries and led the SEC with 21 touchdowns from scrimmage. His production was enough to garner interest from NFL scouts. Similar to Van Lith, Davis's winding road to the pros involved several stops. Before Kentucky, he had two-year stints at Temple (2019-2021) and Vanderbilt (2021-2023). Transferring to Kentucky meant Davis would suit up for his third team in five years, and he knew moving from one SEC school to the next could stir the pot. The decision wasn't an easy one. 'It was super difficult,' Davis said. 'It took days, literally almost weeks to just really make a decision. And when I made the decision, I just had to live with it. I couldn't think twice about it. I had to be confident.' The move paid off. Davis gained national attention and was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the fourth round of the 2024 draft. But while his draft stock soared, the backlash from transferring a second time took a toll. 'Mentally it sucks because, you know, as a kid when you're 18, 19 or whatever, you're being told, 'Hey he's leaving because he's disloyal,' and that's not what it is,' Davis said. He focused on what he could control. 'I think it's really about how you handle it yourself, how you internalize it yourself, and how you go about walking in the building each and every day. If you be like, `Ah, people are looking at me like I'm not an honest and disloyal person,' then that's going to hurt you mentally. But if you walk into a place where you're confident in who you are, then I think you'll succeed,' Davis told AP. The impacts Transfer decisions, regardless of the underlying factor, can lead to unfavorable public perceptions — or worse. A 2024 study found a cross-section of abusive content directed toward college athletes on social media. 'It certainly is their right to transfer, but then they will also develop whatever reputation they develop as a result of the choices they make. So people who transfer multiple times are going to be identified in that way,' Skeet said. 'It goes with the territory, as they say.' Both Van Lith and Davis noted the irony in receiving blowback when team personnel can seek new ventures without repercussions. 'Coaches leave. Directors leave. Everybody has the opportunity to leave. So for players, we've got to have that opportunity too,' Davis said. Added Van Lith: 'A lot of times, the loyalty is placed on the responsibility of the players, but you see coaches leave all the time to better their financial situation, to make more money, to do better for their family. When people talk about loyalty, I really challenge them to put into perspective, if they would feel the same if a coach left.' ___ AP college sports:
Belfast Telegraph
17-06-2025
- Climate
- Belfast Telegraph
Father of man killed during Storm Ali lends his support to workers' safety call: ‘Whenever there's storm, it brings it back'
Father of man killed during Storm Ali lends his support to workers' safety call The father of a man who died during Storm Ali has lent his support to new legislation aimed at supporting employees working in hazardous weather conditions as he said he worries about workers 'every time there is a storm'. Mark Campbell's son, Matthew, was struck by a tree, which toppled during the 2018 storm, as he carried out work in Slieve Gullion Forest Park near Newry; the 24-year-old was due to marry his girlfriend, Robyn, a few weeks later.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Embden rejects proposal to explore leaving school district
On Tuesday, Embden residents shot down a measure to formally explore leaving the town's school district, Regional School Unit 74. The 148-107 vote comes after months of tension in the small town. School costs were at the center of the debate: critics of withdrawal believed such a move would undercut the district's budget and be detrimental to local education, while advocates saw it as a way to explore potential tax savings for the town amid rising education costs. Residents collected over 60 signatures to get the issue on the ballot. Tuesday's nay vote means that the town will stop at step two of the 22-step withdrawal process and Embden will remain in its school district. Had residents voted in favor of moving forward, Embden would have formed a withdrawal committee under the state's guidance and begun negotiating an exit from RSU 74 before holding a second vote to decide whether or not to withdraw. 'I'm relieved that they have chosen not to proceed with the withdrawal process,' said RSU 74 Superintendent Mark Campbell. 'And I do understand that there were some messages sent by that. As the leadership team, we need to take a hard look at what we can do to further lessen the tax burden on all of our families in RSU 74.' RSU 74 serves four towns — Anson, Embden, New Portland and Solon — and has four schools. If Embden had gone through the withdrawal process and voted to leave, the schools could have faced drastic cuts, Campbell recently told The Maine Monitor. Regardless of their stance on the issue of withdrawal, many residents pointed to issues in the state's school funding model. Paul Fortin, who spearheaded Embden's withdrawal exploratory committee earlier this year, previously told The Maine Monitor that debate between neighbors was misguided, and that the issue lay with the state. The state's funding formula — known as Essential Programs and Services (EPS) — can place more financial responsibility of education on towns if property valuations are high or student enrollment is low. School districts also tend to raise beyond what the EPS model requires to cover other costs not covered by the state formula. Valuation in Embden has more than doubled since 2015. On Tuesday, residents in RSU 74 also voted on whether to approve a $12.9 million school budget, about a $350,000 increase from last year. Embden will be responsible for about $2.2 million of these funds. Residents across the district passed the school budget in a 238-181 vote, an outcome that heads to the school board for final approval Wednesday night. School enrollment across the district has been declining, according to state data. However, the district reported that Embden's student count has risen slightly since the 2020-21 school year. This is not the first time Embden has explored withdrawal. The town went through the formal process in 2015 but the measure ultimately failed. The nearby towns of Strong and Phillips recently voted in favor of beginning the withdrawal process from MSAD 58, which saw its $12.6 million school budget fail at the polls on Tuesday. The move follows a decades-long trend of rural communities exploring withdrawal to tackle budget woes and take control of local education. Embden resident Kayla Starr, who has been a strong critic of withdrawal and won a bid for a selectman position on Tuesday, said that she felt 'proud' that residents chose to 'stand behind education, community and the next generation.' Still, she pointed to a looming need to address the underlying issue: how schools are funded in Maine. 'What we're seeing across the state hopefully serves as a wake-up call to state officials — it's time to reexamine the funding formula for public education and find real solutions,' Starr said. 'Towns shouldn't be left to figure it out on their own, especially when doing so could unintentionally cause more harm than good.'
