Lina is a game made to be played by whole classrooms of children, developed by our team as part of the ASPbelong project, with the aim of bringing young people together through the magic of storytelling.

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‍Why a trial?

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We want to know if playing Lina actually makes a difference. Does it help students feel more connected to their classmates? Does it change the way they see others with mental health issues or support each other? To find out we have recruited classrooms across the three countries through a trial. In this trial, some classes have been selected by chance to play Lina while others continue to attend their typical classes as usual. We ask the students to fill out questionnaires about their attitudes, beliefs and feelings on classroom belonging, stigma, mental health andother topics before the game, after it ends and then again six months later to see if anything has changed.

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 "Teachers and young people, they've all been really excited. It's been, like, really, really fun to watch them all play […] They've all really gotten into the story and wanted to know, like, what's happened to Lina."

Trial Researcher, UK

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How many schools and classes are we talking?

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The ASPbelong trial is quite large! So far we have recruited around 40-43 classes in each country. That includes 7schools in the UK, 23 in Czech Republic and 9 in Portugal. The reason for the difference is because average classroom sizes and the number of classes per grade in schools vary across the countries. Essentially, we recruited until we had as many students we needed to power the trial.

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Who takes part in the sessions?

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Lina is typically led by teachers or psychologists (and sometimes researchers) who play with students across 4 different episodes of gameplay and guide them through discussion in 2 reflection sessions. In order to help us figure out what makes Lina work in schools, researchers also fill out forms to record how engaged students are, the relationship between students and their teacher and any other insights around how the game is played.

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What have we found?

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We are far from any fixed results (expected at the end of 2026!) but so far the trial has been going well. Researchers in each country are actively visiting schools and students to assess outcomes and facilitate the game with teachers.

They’ve found that every class is different. Researchers have noticed that the relationship between teachers and their students is key to how the game unfolds and what young people take away from it. They're also starting to see interesting patterns in how boys and girls experience Lina differently, something we hope to explore more through interviews with students and teachers.

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"Every class is different, and has different dynamics, which are very important for the gameplay"

Trial Researcher, Czech Republic

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What’s next?

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"It (delivering the final sessions) was a mixed feeling […] Students, because they get sad with the end of Lina game, they want more, and they tell us that, oh,it's finished, no, we want more, we want to play it when it's available on Google Store or App Store. They ask about it."

Trial Researcher, Portugal

Right now students are playing through Lina’s story in their classrooms. Soon we’ll be conducting follow-up questionnaires to see what impact the game has had. We’ll also be talking to students and teachers about their experiences to understand not just whether Lina works, but how and why.

Check back with us for updates as the trial progresses!

Or reach out if you’d like to learn more about bringing Lina to your school!

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