Online support

Dr Richard Wood GamTalk

•Email questions •Instant private chat room •Video conference

•Instant group chat •Peer based forums

•Information •Self-help courses

Therapist Group support Self-help

Types of online support

Online peer-based support

• www.GamTalk.org since Oct 2008 • Non-profit supported through sponsorship • A supportive community (not treatment) • Moderated and managed • A place to: talk about problems, get ideas, find help,

offer suggestions, learn, be listened to • More than 13,000 members

Online group support issues • Critical mass (how to build a community) • Keep it simple vs whistles and bells (How tech savvy

are your members?) • Harmony, squabbles and drama • Trolls • Spam • Hackers • Researchers (offering cash prizes!) and journalists

Where do we go from here?

Stories of Hope

What next? • Online gambling is growing, so must online

support • Integration with gaming companies, direct links

from games to support • Integration of different online services • Technology can not be un-invented and the

Internet is impossible to fully control. But technology can and does offer some solutions