The Game to Grow Team

Founder, Executive Director, Facilitator
Adam D. Davis, MA Ed, co-founded Game to Grow and is a principle architect of the Game to Grow Method of Therapeutically Applied Role-Playing Games. With a degree in drama therapy from Antioch University Seattle, he has provided training to hundreds of professionals in TA-RPG and spoken to thousands about applied gaming. Adam is published in the field of geek therapy, with his most recent publication being Therapeutically Applied Role-Playing Games: The Game to Grow Method. In addition to his work with Game to Grow, Adam also developed the CoRe Gaming program for Seattle’s Atlantic Street Center to teach Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills using video games, served as an educator at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo, and taught fourth-grade literacy.

 

 

Hospital Group Facilitator
Teri N. Todd earned a Master’s Degree in Counseling with a focus on Children and Adolescents from Lewis University. Prior to working with Game to Grow, Teri worked in Community Mental Health settings in Southern Illinois specializing in using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Play Therapy with children and adolescents who have experienced trauma. When she isn’t working, Teri loves relaxing with her cats and husband, watching role-playing games and Minecraft on YouTube and Twitch. She also spends time with her family enjoying the country.

 

Game to Grow Board

 

Board President
Kyle Halmrast
has been a gamer (board, card and video) for as long as he can remember. He has also been a leader in the non-profit community for over 25 years, serving in development/fundraising roles for the UW School of Medicine and Woodland Park Zoo. For the past 15 years, he has been CEO of The Ostara Group a full-service consulting firm supporting the non-profit community throughout the Puget Sound with strategic planning, board governance counsel, fundraising strategy, grant-writing and campaign counsel.

 

Board Vice President and Treasurer
Michael LeFevre
 has been playing games for most of his life and has always been fascinated by the therapeutic value of games. As a former play therapist, he helped kids process trauma and feel more empowered in their lives through the healing power of play. Now, he enjoys playing board games with his family and always loves what games teach his kids about life. When not playing games or working as an HR Director, he loves hiking, reading, and watching movies.

 

Board Secretary
Adam Johns, LMFT is on of Game to Grow’s founders. He earned his Master’s degree in couple and family therapy at Antioch University after earning his Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of Arizona. He served as co-Executive Director of Game to Grow for more than five years before returning to be a therapist in private practice. He also served as lead rules designer for Critical Core and supports Game to Grow’s Training Program.

 

Additional Team Members

Director of Critical Core
Virginia Spielmann
 is Executive Director of STAR Institute for Sensory Processing, in Colorado. She trained as an Occupational Therapist in Oxford, England (BSc) and has her MSOT from Mount Mary University, Wisconsin. She is a PhD candidate with the Fielding Graduate University in Infant and Early Childhood Development with an emphasis on mental health. Virginia has been working with children from 0-19 for more than 20 years, and believes in strengths based, respectful support for all individuals and is an advocate for the social model of disability.