Clarenville, Jan. 2005 – Hoping to help stem the flow of patients that come to his office seeking advice for issues connected to their childhood, psychiatrist Dr. Michael Rayel is taking a proactive approach to mental health, focusing on young people. He has created the Oikos Game (pronounced eeh-kos). Oikos Game is a fun, new board game that assists young children, ages 5 to 8, in developing important skills that will help them handle issues such as being bullied, dealing with strangers, peer and sibling interaction and much more.

According to Dr. Rayel, an award-wining author, entrepreneur, Harvard-trained forensic psychiatrist and father, the world can be a confusing and difficult place for young people. Understanding that children face many complicated emotional and interpersonal issues on a daily basis, Dr. Rayel created the Oikos game to help develop positive communication skills to better deal with these issues.

“I see the world with two perspectives, one as a psychiatrist and one as a father. This game was developed with both of those roles in mind,” said Dr. Rayel. “Our objective was to create a game that would provide children with an opportunity to learn and grow, and to make it fun.” He added, “Learning is much more effective when there is laughter and pleasure attached to it. The Oikos Game achieves that. Kids love playing it.”

Teachers, social workers and other mental health care workers have also responded very positively to the game. Graham Manuel, a teacher at Clarenville High School commented, “The Oikos game is a great help in opening the door to communication. It allows the children to have fun, which is a key to learning and to provide answers to what they would do in certain situations such as being approached by a stranger or dealing with a bully. Through this game students can learn how to understand social skills such as empathy, assertiveness, persistence and self discipline – all under the guise of having fun.”

The Oikos Game concept is as unique as its name, which means ‘sphere of influence’, signifying the game’s objective of providing positive encouragement from the adults in children’s lives. Oikos Global is giving role models throughout the world the opportunity to openly communicate positive messages to today’s youth. By taking a proactive approach they are helping children deal with the world today instead of waiting for adults to work backwards to resolve childhood issues.

As a company, Oikos Global is committed to encouraging personal and emotional skill development in this generation’s children by creating quality educational products, toys and games. Through their annual Oikos Global Award, the company will also recognize the improvements youth make to the emotional lives of their peers. The award honors those who have developed positive ways to deal with bullies; helped prevent the use of street drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol; improved communication among peers; established a support network; and reduced violence in their school and community.