WellPower’s Minecraft Therapy wins Colorado behavioral health award

WellPower’s Minecraft Therapy program won the Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council’s 2026 Golden Lightbulb Award for using a video game to engage children and teens in mental health care. The Denver program now runs as a permanent clinical service for youth ages 6–17 and includes individual, group and specialized therapy options.

Why it matters: - WellPower’s Minecraft Therapy shows how behavioral health providers can use familiar digital spaces to reach children and adolescents who may not engage as easily in traditional therapy. - The program uses a popular game to support communication, emotional regulation, problem-solving, social skills and healthy relationships. - The recognition from the Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council highlights innovation that can translate into real-world access and participation for youth mental health care.

What happened: - The Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council gave WellPower’s Minecraft Therapy the 2026 Golden Lightbulb Award. - The award recognizes creative programs that show impact and excellence in Colorado’s behavioral health system. - WellPower developed the program in Denver during the COVID-19 pandemic. - Therapist Braulio Rivera, LPC, started the idea after a virtual session with a distracted young client who invited him into a Minecraft world. - Rivera worked with his daughter to recreate WellPower’s Dahlia Campus inside Minecraft. - The result was a secure, WellPower-only virtual environment for clinician-youth interaction.

The details: - Minecraft Therapy serves children and adolescents ages 6–17. - Clinicians lead both individual and group therapy sessions. - The program is grounded in established play therapy principles. - The virtual setting is used to create therapeutic opportunities that can be difficult to replicate in traditional sessions. - The program includes trauma-focused EMDR and DBT groups. - WellPower also offers groups for LGBTQ+ youth and a Spanish-language group through the program. - Youth in the program report increased confidence, stronger social skills and a greater sense of community. - The service now operates as a permanent clinical offering with daily therapy groups. - Rivera said the program is grounded in established therapeutic approaches and adapted for a digital generation. - Rivera said the approach helps therapists meet young people where they are.

Between the lines: - The award suggests behavioral health systems are increasingly valuing engagement strategies that meet youth in spaces they already know and trust. - A game-based format can reduce barriers that sometimes come with conventional therapy rooms, especially for children who are more comfortable online. - The program’s permanence indicates the pandemic-era experiment became a lasting part of WellPower’s care model, not a short-term workaround.

What's next: - WellPower will continue running Minecraft Therapy as part of its daily clinical services. - The program will likely remain a reference point for other providers looking for youth-focused, tech-enabled behavioral health tools. - More information is available in WellPower’s announcement.

The bottom line: - WellPower turned a video game into a structured therapy environment, and Colorado’s behavioral health council is calling that innovation award-worthy.