Nativz Gaming, a Dublin-based company operating in the e-sports sector, announced a new partnership with Play Aid, a men’s mental healthcare organization, for its upcoming Ireland Esports Collegiate Series. The collaboration aims to improve mental health support for Irish e-sports students.
Nativz is a lifestyle brand running two e-sports teams that participate in League of Legends and Valorant competitions throughout northern Europe. The company also owns and operates several competitions. The Collegiate Series is the only one of its kind on the entire Irish island, according to the company’s site. It serves as a talent development route for players, coaches, creators and more alongside their studies.
Play Aid leverages motivating activities like sports and video games to empower men’s mental, physical and social health. The English organization works to create communities of young people with shared interests and helps foster support among them, as well as recognition of each other and their strengths. Play Aid is backed by men’s health charity Movember, and its members have over six decades of combined experience working with young people.
The new partnership between Play Aid and Nativz Gaming is geared toward providing mental health resources to students and changing how mental well-being is treated in male-dominated spaces like the e-sports industry. One of its initiatives is to build a network of CARE coaches for players to assist them with psychological first aid.
Nativz Gaming’s leadership team recently completed the qualification training, having learned how to discern identifying symptoms of ill mental health and foster open conversations among peers about mental health.
“Nativz Gaming is dedicated to providing our e-sports athletes with the support they need to excel both in the game and in life,” Kurt Pittman, Nativz Gaming’s founder and CEO, said in a statement, “Our partnership with Play Aid reflects our commitment to fostering a healthy, balanced community in e-sports. By working with Play Aid we’re ensuring our students have access to crucial mental health support locally.”
