Connection, belonging and wellbeing through video gaming

GameChanger is an award-winning, community-led wellbeing project delivered by Alex Roland Love Community CIC. At its heart, GameChanger uses the shared language of video gaming to bring people together creating welcoming, low-pressure spaces where neurodivergent adults can connect, belong and thrive.

It is not a gaming club in the traditional sense. GameChanger is a carefully designed social ecosystem, built around accessibility, human connection and joy.

What happens at GameChanger?

GameChanger runs free, weekly three-hour sessions across four Somerset locations:
Taunton, Bridgwater, Yeovil and Glastonbury.

Sessions are open to adults (18+) who are autistic, have learning disabilities, experience mental ill-health, or identify as neurodiverse. There are no referrals, no assessments and no pressure to participate. People arrive and leave in their own time, on their own terms.

Sessions are intentionally designed so that:

• Gaming is shared, encouraging conversation and cooperation
• Movement-based games (such as Ring Fit, Wii Sports and Just Dance) sit alongside console gaming
• Social connection matters as much as the technology
• People are welcomed exactly as they are

In 2025 GameChanger has grown into one of the largest community-based neurodiverse gaming projects in the region.

• 10,000th visitor milestone reached on 9 June 2025 (GameChanger’s 3rd birthday)
• 4,549 attendances across the year
• 169 sessions delivered across four venues

Farmerados was a community project initially founded by Love Community CIC director Becky Wright, created to support members of the farming community by offering a friendly, non-judgemental space to talk, listen and connect with others who understand farming life. Rooted in the ethos of the Camerados social movement, Farmerados focused on shared experience, mutual support and human connection during challenging times. This work came originally from The Somerset Mental Health in Agriculture Group.

Originally supported by Love Community CIC, Farmerados has since grown under the guidance of Rupert Cox and transitioned to operate independently under The Derek Mead Centre at Junction 24, where it continues to support farming communities as part of a wider network of mental health and wellbeing provision.