Speakers
Sarah Hays, Accelerate Program Manager, Take This
Sarah Hays (she/her) is a doctor of counseling psychology and licensed mental health counselor in Washington State. Her passion for serving the gaming community has been clear since before she started working for Take This in 2018, where she serves as the Accelerate Program Manager – providing revolutionary mentorship to marginalized individuals seeking to bridge their careers between games and mental health. She also delivers live, educational content like workshops, panels, and co-hosts Take This' Twitch stream. Never satisfied with limiting herself to serving one part of the gaming community, Dr. Hays is an outpatient therapist for the game-based mental health nonprofit Save Point Behavioral Health, specializing in working with games industry, ADHD, and LGBTQIA+ populations. She has served as the Director of Programming for Queer Women of Esports, as an advisor for the Games Hotline, and is one of the editors of the groundbreaking book A Clinician's Guide to Geek Therapy. She has authored a number of other works, including a chapter in Video Games and Well-Being and The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: The Witcher. She will be releasing her first solo-edited book this fall, The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Black Mirror.