Women’s Crisis Services Waterloo Region (WCSWR)

Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region (WCSWR) supports and empowers women and children experiencing domestic violence by providing safe shelter, outreach programs, and education. WCSWR has two emergency shelters, Anselma House located in Kitchener and Haven House located in Cambridge, that provide 45 beds to women and their children as well as access to child and family therapy, youth programming, and a variety of other support services. Residents typically change over about every 3 months.

In consultation with staff from both of WCSWR’s shelter locations, we developed a board game collection tailored for use in both shelters with children 2 to 12+ years of age. Each location was provided with this final collection of board games.

Due to the secure and sensitive nature of these shelters, we adapted our usual trialling process given that we could not enter the shelters (without a long process of approval). Instead, we held a longer meeting with staff to review several games and explain in more detail how they are played. From this session and their feedback on the games they thought would be best, we made up a preliminary collection that was dropped off with staff for several weeks to give them a chance to explore and trial independently within their recreational programming (or for any other uses for which they found them helpful). Following this, adjustments to the collection were made based on their feedback. This adapted process was also used in other secure community locations where more sensitive security issues for residents were a priority, such as our work with the Child and Adolescent Inpatient Mental Health Unit in Grand River Hospital.

Below we list the considerations that we ultimately took into account in deciding which games to include in both collections. You will also find a table listing all the board games and accompanying materials we developed that are openly available to all.

The materials here are provided openly for other interested schools and community locations to use and adapt according to a CC BY-NC license, unless stated otherwise. This license allows re-users to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator (The creator for the text of these materials should be indicated to be Daniela O'Neill. Some items may have other stated attributions, such as photographs or drawings for which sources and any applicable permissions are noted).

Some of the most important considerations that led to either a game being included or not included in this collection, were:

• simple instructions that could be summarized on a 1-page Quick Start Instructions (as with games in all our collections), making it easy for staff members to learn all the games
• large selection of games playable by children of different ages together within the range of about 2 to 12 years
• mostly games with shorter and simpler rules, instructions, and gameplay given the already stressful situations that families are in and our desire to create a fun and easy-going experience for mothers and children
• shorter playing times (less than 15 minutes) were preferred, with a couple longer ones included for pre-teens, teens, and adults
• can be played in multiple languages or with English as a new language and/or some with no reading required
• cooperative games to accommodate children wanting to join or leave in the middle of gameplay
• using the advice of staff, we avoided games with any themes or components that could potentially be sensitive or triggering (e.g., Bandida with the prison theme)
• by request, we included some games that encourage movement and gross motor skill development (e.g., Duck Duck Dance)
• some games that have features that more specifically promote the development of self-regulation and coping skills (e.g., spinner games where you could lose your turn)
• we included some games that could be played in open-ended ways (e.g., could also support pretend play)
• as in all our collections, games featuring a wide variety of different themes and topics that appeal across different ages, genders, and cultures and that can foster lots of different vocabulary
• as in all our collections, we avoided any games with commercial or popular culture themes that might limit conversation if not familiar to all children, games with noisy elements, and games with parts that could get used up (e.g., dry erase markers)
• as in all our collections, we prioritized high-quality, durable games with beautiful aesthetics and art to provide more for players to see and talk about

Location 1: “We have been enjoying our collection of board games. They are a wonderful addition to our agency. It has been extremely helpful to have such a diverse selection of games, in order to meet the needs of our clients on a multitude of levels. There really is something for everyone. 😊 The board games are of very high quality which will help ensure that we can utilize them for many years. One of the ways that the board games have made a large impact on our clients is when we bring them out during Family Nights. The amount of games you provided allow us to bring lots of choices to our families. Children and parents alike have fun choosing a game or two for their table and then when completed, families trade and switch up the games with other families. Sometimes more than one family will work together on a board game. This has helped to build connections, and foster a sense of belonging, team work, and good old fashioned fun with lots of laughs. Some of the board games have been helpful tools to use while working on self regulation and healthy problem solving skills among our school aged children. Some of the board games that offer gross motor components have been very helpful with our younger children as they begin to understand ways to use their bodies, and work out some big energy and feelings in healthy ways. They have been great at building a brain body connection as well. Thank you once again for allowing us to be a part of this collaborative project, and the recipients of your generous donations. I hope this feedback is helpful for your updates, and if you require any further feedback please feel free to reach out. Have a great day.

Location 2: “Christy said it all! Thanks again for the games. I have not had much of a chance to use them since the summer as I have a much younger group of children (9 months-3 year old). I am not able to play games with the 3 year old while watching a couple toddlers/babies. The ages of the children and the needs of the families are always changing so once I have more school-aged children, I will spend more time with the games. Thanks again for making this happen.”