Developer Ninja Theory Launches Scholarship For Mental Health Training
By Stefanie Fogel
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Ninja Theory, the developer behind action-adventure game “Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice,” is teaming up with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and its charity Head To Toe to create a new scholarship for mental health training.
“Hellblade” launched in 2017 and tells the story of Senua, a Pict warrior who suffers from psychosis. spent three years working with staff and students from CPFT’s Recovery College East to portray the character’s mental illness accurately. The game was well-received by both game critics and mental health experts and it’s won numerous awards.
The new Senua’s Scholarship will support a college student as they develop their training skills and work towards a professional training qualification, CPFT said in an announcement on its website . This will give them the chance to develop a career in adult education.
“CPFT’s Recovery College East does incredible work in the mental health community and through our collaboration on ‘Hellblade’ we had the privilege of learning what it can be like to live with psychosis,” said Ninja Theory commercial director Dominic Matthews. “We’re very happy to be supporting the college in this way and look forward to meeting the very first recipient of the scholarship later this year.”
“It’s fantastic that Ninja Theory and the Recovery College plan to continue their association through this scholarship,” said Professor Paul Fletcher, CPFT honorary consultant psychiatrist and clinical lead in the game’s development team. “Senua as a hero in the video game embodies much of what the Recovery College is about so it is especially fitting that this scholarship will provide a real person with the opportunities and support to face their own challenges.”
Senua’s Scholarship will start taking applications in December.
Alongside the scholarship announcement, and to celebrate World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10, Ninja Theory released a documentary called “Senua’s Psychosis.” It’s available on YouTube.
