A Guide for Parents and Guardians on using Lumi Nova

A fun mobile game that enables young people to build life-long skills to self-manage their worries and thrive

 
 
 

With Lumi Nova, you can support your young person as they learn to cope with worries and build confidence. 

Lumi Nova enables you to:

Chat with your young person about their worries

Have a chat with your young person before they start the game:

  • Normalise worries - ‘It’s ok to worry - everyone does it! Model bravery - ‘I worry too sometimes about ____, but I’ve learned to be brave by ____.’

  • Ask questions - ‘What are some things you worry about sometimes? Are there things you want to be able to do that seem too difficult or scary right now? What do you hope to be different after you learn from this game? ’

  • Show support - ‘I want to help you learn to cope with feeling worried, and I think Lumi Nova can help!’

Select goals for your young person to work toward

You will choose 3 goals for your young person to work on. Each goal is broken down into several small steps to help your young person achieve success. The first few steps (imagine, draw, photos, and videos) happen in the game, while the rest happen outside the game.

Support your young person’s progress

Each goal includes preparation challenges that happen in the game and action challenges that happen out of the game. When it’s time for action challenges, you may get an SMS reminder and your young person will tell you they’re ready for your help. Follow these steps!

1. Make a Plan

  • Enter your secret game key to get specific details about the challenge

  • Arrange the time and any resources you need to complete the challenge

  • Share the plan with your young person

2. Follow through

  • Your child may feel worried - that’s ok! Take a break if you need to.

  • Step back and let your young person learn so they can build skills to cope with their worries.

  • Cheer them on! Remind them it’s ok to feel worried and they can complete their challenge anyway.

3. Confirm completion

  • Talk with your young person about what they did and what they learned in the challenge.

  • Use your secret game key to validate the challenge so your young person can make progress in the game.

  • Encourage your young person to keep practicing, repeating challenges, and thinking about what they learn!

Empower your young person to learn

Check in with your young person as they play Lumi Nova to help them reflect on what they’re learning and all the progress they’re making!

 

Choosing Goals

Choosing a specific goal can help you focus on making changes that are important to you and your child.

It can also help you and your child keep track of how they’re doing along the way so that you can see that they’re getting better at every step.

Here are some important things to consider when choosing a goal: 

  1. Which goal will make a bigger difference for your child?

    For example, if your child struggles to sleep at night, choosing a goal that will help them sleep on their own might also help them improve their bedtime routine and their mood in the morning. Choosing a goal like being able to spend time near dogs might not make as big a difference if your child is unlikely to see many dogs. Choose a goal that seems like it will make the biggest impact. 

  2. Which goal will help make other worries easier?

    For example, if your child were less worried about speaking in front of a group, they might also be less worried about going to school or to a social gathering or party. Choose a goal central to your child’s worries that might help them worry less about other things, too. 

  3. Will one of your child’s worries get in the way of working on another one?

    For example, it might be hard for your child to go to a party or social gathering if they are worried about being away from you. Think about the order that you choose goals to work on so that your child is only facing one worry at a time. 

  4. Which goal will be the easiest to tackle?

    Helping your child feel brave and successful is important, so choosing goals that seem less scary or easier to achieve can be a helpful way to start.

Source: Helping Your Child with Fears and Worries 2nd Edition, A self-help guide for parents – Cathy Creswell, Lucy Willetts

 

List of Goals and Challenges

With each new challenge, your young person will learn that the things they worry about probably won’t happen. And even if they do, they’ll learn they can cope with feeling worried and make progress anyway!

Click on a goal below for more information

 
 

+ Goal 1: Be comfortable staying at home without my guardian

Does your child worry that something bad will happen while they’re away from you or another caregiver?

Choose this goal to help your child learn to stay home without someone they worry about being away from.

Young children can stay home with other adults. Older children can stay home alone.

Challenges in this goal:

  1. Imagine yourself being home without your guardian
  2. Draw yourself home without your guardian
  3. Watch a 360 video of being home without a guardian
  4. Stay in a room alone without guardian
  5. Stay in the house alone with guardian outside on the phone
  6. Stay in the house alone while guardian goes outside
  7. Stay home with someone else without guardian for 1 hour
  8. Stay with someone else without guardian for evening

+ Goal 2: Be ok with making a mistake on school work

Does your child worry that making a mistake will make them fail, disappoint people, or feel embarrassed?

Choose this goal to help your child learn it’s ok to make mistakes sometimes.

Work with your child’s teacher to help them achieve this goal.

Challenges in this goal:

  1. Imagine yourself making a mistake on a test
  2. Draw yourself making a mistake on a test
  3. Watch a 360 video of getting a bad mark on a test
  4. Make a mistake on homework
  5. Answer a question wrong in class
  6. Answer a question you don’t know the answer to
  7. Make a mistake on a test or quiz

+ Goal 3: Be able to sleep away from home overnight

Does your child worry that something bad will happen while they’re away from you or away from home?

Choose this goal to help your child learn to stay overnight at a friend’s or family member’s house.

Challenges in this goal:

  1. Imagine yourself sleeping away from home
  2. Draw yourself sleeping away from home
  3. Watch a 360 video of sleeping away from home
  4. Visit a friend with your guardian
  5. Visit a friend without your guardian
  6. Have a meal at a friend’s without a guardian
  7. Spend an evening at a friend’s house
  8. Sleep over at a friend’s house

+ Goal 4: Be comfortable speaking in front of a group

Does your child worry that they’ll make mistakes or feel embarrassed while speaking in front of others?

Choose this goal to help your child learn to read aloud at school. Work with your child’s teacher to help them achieve this goal.

Challenges in this goal:

  1. Imagine yourself speaking in front of a group
  2. Draw yourself speaking in front of a group
  3. Watch a 360 video of reading aloud in class
  4. Read aloud at home
  5. Read aloud at home and answer a question
  6. Read aloud to a few friends at school
  7. Read aloud to the teacher and answer a question
  8. Read aloud in front of your class

+ Goal 5: Be able to sleep on my own

Does your child worry that something bad will happen or they won’t be able to sleep on their own?

Choose this goal to help your child learn to sleep all night in their own bed.

Challenges in this goal:

  1. Imagine yourself sleeping alone
  2. Draw yourself sleeping alone
  3. Watch a 360 video of sleeping alone
  4. Go to sleep while your guardian sits on the bed with you
  5. Go to sleep while your guardian sits on the floor by the bed
  6. Go to sleep while your guardian sits by the door
  7. Go to sleep while your guardian sits outside the door
  8. Go to sleep while your guardian stays in another room

+ Goal 6: Feel comfortable visiting a busy or crowded place

Does your child worry that they will feel unsafe or embarrassed around a lot of people?

Choose this goal to help your child learn that they can stay safe in places that are noisy or crowded.

Challenges in this goal:

  1. Imagine yourself in a busy place
  2. Draw yourself in a busy place
  3. Watch a 360 video of being in a busy place
  4. Go past a busy place (walking, driving, or public transport)
  5. Visit a busy place and stand nearby
  6. Visit a busy place and stand outside the entrance
  7. Visit a busy place and stand inside the entrance
  8. Visit a busy place and spend time inside

+ Goal 7: Be able to spend time in the dark

Does your child worry that something bad, surprising, or unsafe will happen in the dark?

Choose this goal to help your child learn to spend time in the dark.

Challenges in this goal:

  1. Imagine yourself spending time in the dark
  2. Draw yourself spending time in the dark
  3. Watch a 360 video of a place that’s very dark
  4. Stay in a slightly dark room
  5. Stay in a fairly dark room
  6. Stay in a dark room
  7. Stay in a very dark room
  8. Stay in a dark room with the door closed

+ Goal 8: Be able to spend time near a dog

Does your child worry that dogs will jump, bite, or scratch them?

Choose this goal to help your child learn to spend time with dogs. Work with someone who has a dog that’s safe with people to achieve this challenge.

Challenges in this goal:

  1. Imagine yourself spending time near a dog
  2. Draw yourself spending time near a dog
  3. Watch a video of a small dog
  4. Watch a 360 video of a small dog
  5. Watch a 360 video of big dogs
  6. Look at a dog through a window
  7. Stand next to a dog on a lead
  8. Stroke a dog on a lead
  9. Stand near a dog off lead
  10. Stroke a dog off lead

+ Goal 9: Be able to spend time near insects or spiders

Does your child worry that insects will jump, bite, or sting them?

Choose this goal to help your child learn to be around insects. If you aren’t comfortable with insects, work with another adult who can help.

Challenges in this goal:

  1. Imagine yourself spending time near an insect
  2. Draw yourself spending time near an insect
  3. Look at photos of insects
  4. Watch a video of many insects
  5. Stand next to an insect in a container
  6. Stand next to someone holding an insect
  7. Go somewhere there are insects
  8. Hold an insect in a container
  9. Let an insect crawl on your hand

+ Goal 10: Try to make a new friend

Does your child worry about feeling embarrassed when they try to make friends?

Choose this goal to help your child learn to talk to new people at school.

Challenges in this goal:

  1. Imagine yourself speaking to someone you don’t know well
  2. Draw yourself speaking to someone you don’t know well
  3. Watch a 360 video of making a new friend
  4. Make eye contact with someone at school you don’t know well
  5. Say hi to someone at school you don’t know well
  6. Talk to someone at school you don’t know well
  7. Invite someone new to play or eat with you at school

+ Goal 11: Feel comfortable going to a party or social gathering

Does your child worry about feeling embarrassed when they are around other children?

Choose this goal to help your child learn to spend time with other children in and out of school.

You can help plan social activities with other parents and their children to achieve this goal.

Challenges in this goal:

  1. Imagine yourself going to a party
  2. Draw yourself going to a party
  3. Watch a 360 video of being at a party
  4. Talk to a classmate at school
  5. Invite a classmate over after school
  6. Arrange to meet a classmate on the weekend
  7. Arrange to spend time with a few young people

+ Goal 12: Feel comfortable going to school

Does your child worry about going to or staying at school?*

Choose this goal to help your child learn to stay at school all day. Work with their teacher to achieve this goal.

*If your child regularly refuses to go to school, please seek additional help.

Challenges in this goal:

  1. Imagine yourself going to school
  2. Draw yourself at school
  3. Watch a 360 video of going to school
  4. Go past your school on a weekend
  5. Go to your school on a weekend and stand outside
  6. Go to school on a school day and wait nearby
  7. Go to the first lesson of school
  8. Go to a morning of school
  9. Go to a whole day of school

+ Goal 13: Be able to spend time in a high up place

Does your child worry that they might fall or feel unwell in high up places?

Choose this goal to help your child learn to overcome their fear of heights.

Challenges in this goal:

  1. Imagine yourself in a high up place
  2. Draw yourself in a high up place
  3. Look at photos of people in high up places
  4. Watch a video of looking down from a high up place
  5. Watch a 360 video in a very high up place
  6. Go somewhere slightly high up with your guardian
  7. Go somewhere slightly high up with your guardian and look down
  8. Go somewhere very high up with your guardian
  9. Go somewhere very high up with your guardian and look down

+ Goal 14: Be able to eat or drink in front of other people

Does your child worry that they will be noisy, messy, or smelly or feel embarrassed in front of others?

Choose this goal to help your child learn to eat in front of family, friends, and in public.

Challenges in this goal:

  1. Imagine yourself eating or drinking in front of others
  2. Draw yourself eating or drinking in front of others
  3. Watch a video of eating loudly in front of others
  4. Have a small snack with a friend or family member
  5. Eat a loud, smelly, or messy food with a friend or family member
  6. Have a small snack with a few friends or family members
  7. Eat a loud, smelly, or messy food with a few friends or family members
  8. Have a small snack in a public place
  9. Eat a loud, smelly, or messy food in a public place

+ Goal 15: Be okay seeing vomit or thinking about vomiting

Does your child Worry that they or someone around them might vomit?

Choose this goal to help your young person learn to overcome their worries about vomiting.

Challenges in this goal:

  1. Imagine yourself seeing some vomit
  2. Look at photographs of people feeling sick and of vomit
  3. Watch a video of somebody vomiting
  4. Practise making dry heaving or retching noises
  5. Make fake vomit (sour milk + vinegar + chunky soup)
  6. Pour fake vomit into the toilet or rubbish bin
  7. Watch someone else pour fake vomit into the toilet or rubbish bin while making retching noises
  8. Pour fake vomit into the toilet or rubbish bin while making retching noises
 

Customising challenges

If a step feels too hard, then try to break it down into an easier step.

One way for doing this is by putting a short time limit for the challenge

For e.g. if your child is working on the challenge of being able to stay in a slightly dark room - then you can limit the exposure time to 1 minute, and build this up gradually.

Your child’s anxious expectations should start to improve. If they don’t then repeat the step until they feel ready to move onto the next one (i.e. expectations have changed).

 

Ways to chat with your child about their worries:

Normalise worries - ‘It’s ok to worry - everyone does it!

Model bravery - ‘I worry too sometimes about _____, but I’ve learned to be brave by _____.’ 

Show confidence - ‘Go on, have a go! I know you can do it!’

Make it fun - ‘Worries can be scary, but we’re going to have a fun adventure together!’

Take a pause - ‘You seem really worried, let’s take a deep breath and then we’ll try again soon.’

Track progress - ‘Think of all the challenges you’ve already completed!’

 

Game teaser – see what it looks like to play the game:

 

FAQ

How can we help? 

Find everything you need to help your child build confidence, better cope with their worries, and become more resilient. 

Can’t find it here? For any other questions, contact BfB Labs: support@bfb-labs.com


Click on the questions below to see guidance

+ Should my child really play more video games?

  • Research shows that gaming, when used positively, can be a really helpful way to look after your mental health. Learn more
  • Lumi Nova is built for children to play only for 30 minutes at a time. After they complete a challenge and have fun earning their reward, they will have to wait until the next day to log in again and keep playing.
  • If your child is already playing video games, why not encourage them to spend some of that time with a game that can help them learn to face their fears, build confidence, and boost resilience?

+ What if I forgot my user key?

  • If you forget your user key, just click the "Forgotten game key" link in the game when asked to enter your game key. Your game key will be sent to you again via SMS. Or you can contact your distributor (e.g. the person who gave you access to the game.)
  • Your child can still play the game while they wait - they can log in again to repeat old challenges and keep earning rewards.

+ What if the game stops working?


COMPLETING OUT OF GAME CHALLENGES

+ How much anxiety should I expect?

  • It’s normal for your child to feel worried - it’s important for them to try each challenge anyway.
  • Your child should do each challenge until their anxiety goes down by half. If they start at 8/10 worried, they should keep at it until they only feel 4/10 worried.
  • You can ask your child how they’re feeling and to rate their level of worry throughout each challenge. Encourage them to keep at it until their worry goes down so they learn how to cope!

+ What if my child is too worried to do a challenge?

  • It’s normal for your child to feel worried - remind them you believe they can do it anyway!
  • If your child experiences physical symptoms of anxiety (fast heartbeat, sweating, tummy ache), take a break and remind them to take deep breaths.
  • Praise your child for being brave enough to try a challenge!
  • Tell them you can try again tomorrow - it’s important to try this challenge again soon. If they keep avoiding the same challenge, they will learn that their anxiety is too scary to overcome. Encourage them to give it another go soon so they can learn how to cope with feeling worried.
  • If your child needs to keep practising to build their confidence first, they can log in to the game and choose old challenges to repeat.

+ What if my child can’t do an out of game challenge?

  • If you’ve planned an out of game challenge and are waiting to complete it, your child can still play the game while they wait. They can log in again to repeat old challenges and keep earning rewards.
  • If you can’t complete an out of game challenge, your child can log in to the game to replace that challenge with a different one to keep making progress toward their goal.
  • Remember not to skip challenges because of your child’s worry - they have to try out each challenge in order to learn that they can cope!

FINDING EXTRA SUPPORT

+ How does this affect my young person’s chance of seeing a therapist?

Lumi Nova was created to support your young person alongside any additional treatment they may need. Using Lumi Nova will not have any effect on your ability to access treatment, but can help provide vital support they need while waiting for treatment to begin.

Therapists may also choose to continue using Lumi Nova to support your young person. If you have any concerns about using Lumi Nova for your young person’s worries, contact your GP or other mental health professional.

+ What if I need help supporting my child?

  • Talk to teachers, family members, and friends - the more people who know what your child is doing and can help encourage them the more successful they will be!
  • Ask teachers about parent support groups - there may be other parents who are looking for help, too. A chance to talk with them about what they’re doing and how they’re feeling can help you support your child.