Video games have often been discussed in mental-health settings primarily in terms of addiction, isolation or problematic behavior.

Alex Kim has taken a more complicated view.

The Holyoke-based clinical social worker and Jeopardy! contestant has explored how gaming can also serve constructive psychological and social purposes.

That interest is only one part of a career that spans trauma therapy, clinical supervision and higher education.

Kim’s Early Career Included School Counseling

By 2016, Kim was working at Veritas Preparatory Charter School in Springfield, Massachusetts.

He served as a school social worker and counselor for seventh- and eighth-grade students.

Working with adolescents gave him firsthand exposure to the role digital culture and games play in young people’s lives.

“Growing Up Gaming” Became a Professional Presentation

That same year, Kim presented “Growing Up Gaming: A Strengths-Based Approach to Videogames.”

The presentation pushed back against an overly negative clinical framing of gaming.

A strengths-based approach asks not only what is wrong but what capabilities, relationships and positive experiences can exist within an activity.

For games, that may include problem solving, community, identity and achievement.

His Interests Go Well Beyond Gaming

Kim’s clinical practice also focuses heavily on trauma.

His interests include racial trauma and trauma passed across generations.

Moral injury is another area of concern.

He has also explored how spirituality intersects with mental health.

These subjects reflect a willingness to examine experiences that don’t always fit neatly into conventional diagnostic categories.

Smith College Has Been Central to His Career

Kim earned his M.S.W. from Smith College in 2012.

He later returned to the institution as a faculty member.

Since 2020, he has taught students in the School for Social Work.

Courses have included group theory, foundational practice and practicum-related work.

He Was His Graduating Class Speaker

Kim’s connection with Smith was notable even before becoming faculty.

His classmates selected him as their M.S.W. class speaker.

In his commencement remarks, he discussed the tensions and contradictions social workers face.

He suggested those very contradictions can become sources of creative and meaningful practice.

His Career Also Includes Community Mental Health

Kim has worked as a Supervising Behavioral Health Clinician with the Community Health Center of Franklin County.

That work placed him within community-based care while adding supervision and leadership responsibilities.

He has also trained graduate students pursuing mental-health careers.

Policy Work Came Before Clinical Leadership

During his graduate education, Kim interned with the Prison Policy Initiative.

His work involved outreach surrounding prison-based gerrymandering.

That means his career has included both social policy and direct therapeutic practice.

Few social workers move through such varied environments while also maintaining a specialized scholarly interest in gaming.

For Kim, Jeopardy! becomes one more arena built around a lifelong interest in how people think, learn and interact.