Home Schooling & Video Game Addiction

Parenting children during our stay at home year and in our technological age can often feel overwhelming, frustrating and even isolating. Caring for students who need therapy for addictions of any kind can feel almost impossible. Finding the right partners to help your student recover and get through school is critical. For many adolescents and teens, being in a traditional school setting used to be the problem and exacerbated the underlying issues of their addictions. Nowadays they are presented with so many other challenges that are just piling up.

At The School Solution, owner and therapeutic educational consultant Karen Mabie travels around the country to find schools for addicted teen students. She has over 10 years of experience working with families and knows how to find the right school for each child. Reaching out for help is the best and most loving thing you can do for your addicted student. Finding the right school or institution for your child is the first step to recovery for them and your whole family.

Video game addiction has long been a concern of parents, with reports of extreme game playing dating back to the 1980s. As games have steadily become more immersive and interactive, and students have be relegated to doing home schooling, video game addiction has become ore of a common phenomenon. While video game addiction may seem like it is different from chemical addictions to drugs and alcohol, the mechanisms behind any addiction are similar. For students at home today video games can become a way to escape the troubles of everyday life. It has been been proven that the satisfaction of completing tasks and interacting with others in a game produces a rush of endorphins, which means more and more gaming is needed to produce the same feeling.

If your home-schooled student is struggling with addiction, you are not alone as a parent in need. Your child may be facing challenges that you never had to deal with, and you don’t know where to turn for help.  But there are many ways that Karen Mabie and The School Solution can help!

Video Game Addiction: Treatment Options

For addicted students, a traditional school setting may not be serving their needs. Instead, there are schools and programs for addicted students can help your child learn how to deal with their addiction and the underlying causes of it. 

• In-patient addiction treatment centers: In-patient treatment can help by temporarily removing teens and young adults from situations where gaming is an option, because sometimes, being at home around video games, in the same environments where the problem initially flourished, can be a hindrance to recovery.
• Outdoor therapeutic programs: Perfect for the holiday season, this form of treatment combines in-patient intervention models with individual counseling in an environment conducive to personal growth. In Outdoor Therapeutic Programs, students are removed from video games and other electronics and given the chance to accomplish real, tangible tasks as they build social ties with other students in the same situation. Self-reliance, reflection, and healthy social interactions are emphasized.

If you don’t want to send your child to a specialty boarding school or treatment facility, and you feel you need outside help, there are many forms other treatment available.

• Individual counseling: Speaking with a licensed mental health professional is the least intensive treatment option.
• Family therapy:  If video games are a source conflict in your family, or being used as a way to escape other familial conflicts—family counseling can help reduce and address conflict, as well as give you ways to support your student as they recover.
• Medication: Only prescribed if the patient also has other mental health problems such as depression, and the use of medication should be as limited as possible. Like any addiction, can affect normal brain chemistry; anti-depressants can help the brain return to normal as your child reduces or eliminates video game usage. 

The School Solution: Solutions For Student Addictions

If you are worried about your child’s video game habits and possible addiction interfering with their schooling there are many steps you can take. Karen Mabie and the team at The School Solution follow a careful process when working with families. By traveling to over 60 schools per year, Karen Mabie gets to know the environment at each school and can therefore better match your child to one of the schools for drug addicted teen students. First, she will get to know your child and his or her needs by doing an evaluation of your child’s strengths and weaknesses. The team at The School Solution will also review your teen’s records, including those from your teen’s teachers and therapists. 

Once Karen Mabie has taken a full academic, family and treatment history of your teen, she will talk with you either in person or on the phone to help you define your family’s goals and focus your search. She will also get more information about your teen’s physical, social and emotional goals. The final step of working with an educational consultant is to create a timeline for placing your child in one of the schools for addicted students. With many schools and program and even alternative therapies for addicted teens available, finding the right one for your child can feel overwhelming.

Contact The School Solution for help. The road to healing and recovery from any kind of addiction can be difficult, but with Karen Mabie’s help, you won’t be alone.