Healthy Gamer: Parenting in the Digital Age
Help your child balance video games and life with our unique approach that focuses on rebuilding your relationship with your child through understanding and communication.
Watch PromoHelp Your Gamer Regain Control of Life
We help parents get on the same page with their gamers faster - and cheaper - than any therapy or family counseling regimen. Because the hard work is on you, the parent. And, make no mistake, this is hard work.
We know what you’re going through.
✔ The nightly fights to come down to dinner
✔ The slow decline in grades
✔ The disengagement from sports and hobbies
✔ The quiet isolation from friends and even family
✔ The sudden outbursts of anger to a simple thing like “Why don’t you go to bed?”
Healthy Gamer can help.
Our Understand - Talk - Act approach takes you step-by-step to understand first, talk second, and act last. This puts your relationship at the forefront.
✔ Understand exactly what is going on in your child’s brain.
✔ Talk to your gamer using conversational scripts that have worked in real life.
✔ Act according to the plan you create through 16 guided worksheets.
Learn how to support your gamer.
Video games played to an extreme affects us on five dimensions:
✔ Physically: disrupted sleep, fatigue, weight gain/loss
✔ Mentally: stress, mood instability
✔ Socially: isolation from friends/family
✔ Emotionally: trouble expressing/regulating emotion
✔ Real World Success: decline in performance and motivation
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Hi, I'm Dr. Kanojia
Most gamers call me Dr. K. I've worked with hundreds of gamers to find balance with gaming and real life.
I'm also a gamer myself. In fact, my gaming almost caused me to fail out of college. Now, I'm faculty at Harvard Medical School, and I specialize in addiction psychiatry. I've also worked with thousands of gamers (including pro gamers) over the past 5 years. I founded Healthy Gamer as the best evidence-based psychiatric approach to balance gaming and real life. In these Healthy Gamer Family Programs, you get years of professional experience put to work in an actionable programs any family can use.
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Healthy Gamer Works!
"It’s not a stretch to say Healthy Gamer has completely turned my life around. Dr. Kanojia helped me understand what made my gaming habits problematic was how I was using them to avoid confronting the real issues of my unhappiness. There’s nobody more empathetic, compassionate, and knowledgeable. I’m honestly so thankful that I had the opportunity to be part of this program." - Richard W., Gamer
"Through the Healthy Gamer course, I realized how deeply video games affect children. I learned things that my son was secretly craving and wanting to fulfill in life. The resource showing the correlation between video game genres with specific personality traits and personal needs was so valuable." - Fiona B., Parent
The Healthy Gamer Action Plan Includes
Expert Guidance
A curriculum designed by a video-game-addict-turned-faculty-at-Harvard-Medical-School.
Self-Paced Videos
Go at the pace that works for your family with 10-15 minute sequenced modules.
A Full Plan
16 practical, actionable, realistic steps for your family to regain control from video games.
Dialogue Guides
The literal words for when you don't know what to say.
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You are a good parent.
In fact, you probably work harder than most. We know first-hand this isn’t about fault or blame. It’s about the psychological sense of identity, community, and accomplishment people derive from video games. It’s about how nothing in “real life” provides the same level of excitement, empowerment and inclusion. That’s why understanding is so key, and why going deep into the psychology of gaming is so important.
Your gamer is smart.
In fact, your child is probably smarter than average. Gamers are shown in some studies to have higher IQ's by 15 points on average. Gaming also can provide intellectual stimulation that smart kids crave. Many games involve high-level math, strategic thinking, and sociology built into them.
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The Healthy Gamer Action Plan is for:
✔ Parents of gamers ages 8-18 who see video games holding their child back
✔ Parents who have tried and failed to reshape their children’s gaming behaviors
✔ Parents who are exhausted and have “given up” trying to influence their children’s gaming habits
✔ Parents who want support, resources, or guidance in understanding, preventing, or encouraging recovery from video game addiction
✔ Parents who are overwhelmed with the gaming world (why is my child watching someone else play video games?!) and want expert guidance in understanding what gaming is and how it impacts their children
✔ Parents who might not have the time, energy, or resources for family counseling
Healthy Gamer programs are the best evidence-based psychiatric approach to video games. It uses the expertise of Dr. Kanojia and has the approval of pediatricians, psychiatrists, child psychologists and educators.
Remember, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. This program is on your terms - you control what you want to work through and when you work through it. You’ll have the support of other Healthy Gamer parents behind you. And, if it doesn’t work, you get your money back, and the program gets stronger from your experience.
Be well,
Dr. Kanojia & Team Healthy Gamer
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why are you more qualified than other people to do this?
Dr. Kanojia is the world-expert in gaming psychology, is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, and Instructor at Harvard Medical School. Most importantly, he has personally experienced video game addiction - nearly getting kicked out of college as a result - and managed to get his own gaming under control and into a medical career. First-hand experience goes a long way in helping non-gamers develop empathy, which is critical for success. Dr. Kanojia now works with gamers of all kinds: professional gamers as well as younger gamers (with their families). Healthy Gamer puts Dr. Kanojia’s experience and methodology into affordable, self-paced programs that any family can use.
Is this therapy?
No, it's psychoeducation and practical exercises in a digital program. We go quicker than week-to-week therapy and are much, much more affordable. Due to licensing restrictions, Dr. Kanojia can not be your doctor or psychiatrist through this program. Instead, he can be your guide and you will have access to his resources and the community of parents.
How long will this take?
The content can take an afternoon. To implement can take 8-16 weeks, depending on the dynamics of your family and your gamer’s cooperation. The first 4 weeks of any behavior change (think about quitting caffeine, cutting carbs, or exercising every morning) are the hardest. Go easy on yourself and on your family. It is more about cultivating a healthy environment and a healthy balance than a sudden change in behavior.
Wouldn’t forcing my kid to quit video games altogether be better?
Good luck with that. Forcing someone to do something they don’t want to do is not usually a good idea, much less successful. If you cut out video games, you become the enemy. Healthy Gamer is grounded in the idea that getting control over your child’s gaming requires you both to be on the same team. You’re not the enemy, and neither are they. It’s easy to feel this way, but gaming is not inherently evil. Treating it as a purely negative influence in your child’s life means that you are missing the point. Healthy Gamer is about balance and using the positive things about gaming for real-world success. Our approach works for families, because gamers can embrace this kind of incremental change. Often, gamers themselves will start to prioritize time spent in real-world activities over gaming, which is the ultimate sign of a Healthy Gamer.
Is this only for kids with video game addiction?
If gaming is causing a problem, it IS a problem. If video games are causing grades to go down, isolation from friends/family, or causing mood swings, we would say it is becoming problematic and should be addressed. Whether or not your child meets a clinical definition of video game addiction is less important than your parental instinct on whether or not video games will hold them back in life.
My child is over 18, will this still work?
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The Healthy Gamer Guarantee
Healthy Gamer programs are the best evidence-based psychiatric approach to finding a healthy balance between video games are real life. Developed by Dr. Alok Kanojia, a reformed gamer and now faculty in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, this approach has helped gamers of all kinds: from pro gamers to middle schoolers.
If your child is not developing a healthier balance between gaming and real life balance within 8 weeks of completing the program, we will refund your money, learn from your experience, and make the materials stronger for you and everyone else
You will follow an Understand - Talk - Act approach to effectively implement healthy boundaries and communication around video games. The implementation of the Act portion can take between 8 and 16 weeks, depending on your family dynamics.
Your relationship is the priority, so we will help you answer the questions you’ve been asking yourself:
Dr. K’s Promise to You:
If you are not seeing your child start to re-engage with the real world within 8 weeks of completing the program, message us within Teachable, and we will be happy to refund every dollar.