Riot Games, the developer and publisher of the world’s biggest PC game, League of Legends, is partnering with headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation, Le Va and the Child Abuse Prevention Service to present Recall and Restore – a program to promote mental health awareness and healthy gaming habits for players within the League of Legends community.

Launching on Monday 16th March, Recall and Restore will culminate in Round 8 of the Oceanic Pro League (OPL) live stream taking place from 4pm AEDT on the 20th and 21st March at Twitch.tv/RiotGameOCE. Over the weekend headspace will join the OPL team to talk about bullying as part of the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence on Friday 20th March, and a more holistic focus on mental health on Saturday 21st March.

Gaming is a major part of daily life for the majority of the population, with over 80% of Australians and New Zealanders playing video games (IGEA) and 97% of households with children playing computer games.

Simon Dodd, National Clinical Advisor at headspace said “each year one in four young people will experience a mental health issue, this partnership allows headspace to engage through a different channel to promote positive mental health within the gaming community. Gaming can be a positive and enjoyable pastime, but like everything in life, it’s important to create a healthy balance doing things such as spending time with family and friends, and getting enough sleep.”

“Working with Riot Games via Recall and Restore, we’re asking young people to check in on their mental health and notice where they might need to make some changes to create a positive wellbeing.”

The headspace website provides a number of gaming specific resources that promote a positive gaming experience and how to maintain a healthy headspace. For more information, please visit: headspace.org.au.

Denise Kingi-Uluave, CEO at Le Va said “gamers are aware of the need to balance gaming and other things in their lives – sometimes they just need some guidance and support on how to do that. Le Va’s Mental Wealth programme and Mana Restore website is one resource that can help with this.”

This is the third consecutive year of Recall and Restore, and marks the commitment that Riot Games, headspace, Le Va and the Child Abuse Prevention Service (CAPS), a new partner in 2020, make in promoting the importance of mental health awareness among young people.

Tracy McLeod Howe, CEO of CAPS, stated that “CAPS is excited to partner with Riot Games on this very important initiative. Young people should be empowered with the resources they need to support their own mental health. We also recognise the need to tackle bullying in gaming and look forward to providing whatever help we can to keep young people safe online”.

Ivan Davies, Community and Social Play Lead, Riot Games Oceania said about the Recall and Restore program, “League of Legends players in Oceania have told us that they care deeply about

mental health and wellbeing, Recall and Restore enables us to not only create a platform to talk about mental health with some incredible partners, but to also provide connection and support to players through a shared and meaningful experience within and around esports.”

The OPL broadcast can be viewed at Twitch.tv/RiotGamesOCE on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st March from 4pm AEDT.

For more updates on Recall and Restore 2020 go to leagueoflegends.com, or visit learnwithleague.com/wellbeing for information from 2019