Doctor Renae Beaumont completed her PhD and developed a computer game – Secret Agent Society (SAS) - that trains social and emotional skills for children with Autism Spectrum Conditions; helping them learn how to feel happier, calmer and braver and to make friends and keep them. To date, the program has been delivered to over 10,000 children with optimistic results - a testament that gaming can be used as a force of good instead of evil to transform children’s lives for the better. Given the challenges that many children face in navigating our modern world, Dr Beaumont’s work is fundamental to optimising the wellbeing and success of our future generations.

Renae Beaumont PhD is a clinical psychologist and Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York Presbyterian Hospital. Renae is a UQ alumnus, completing her PhD in Clinical Psychology at UQ in 2006. For her PhD, Dr Beaumont developed a gaming-based social-emotional skills training program for children and families – Secret Agent Society (SAS). Given the challenges that many children face in navigating our modern world, Dr Beaumont’s work is fundamental to optimising the wellbeing and success of our future generations. Dr Beaumont was the 2011 recipient of the American and Canadian Academies of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Senior Researcher Award. In 2014, her Secret Agent Society Program won the Autism Spectrum Australia National Recognition Award for Advancement and the Secret Agent Society Family Kit won the US Learning Magazine Teacher’s Choice Award for the Family.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx