Looking for Online Gaming Help in Massachusetts?
Our program is located in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania and serves teens from Massachusetts, in addition to teens from across the US. Campers typically attend our Residential Treatment Center for video game addiction for 2 weeks or longer.
Our focus is to help young people learn how to live in tandem with video games, cell phones (smartphones), and other digital devices so that they can be successful with life beyond high school. At our summer camp for video game addiction, we start out by providing a technology-free environment and slowly reintroduce campers to smartphones and the internet. We work on social skills, academic skills, anger management, and developing structure before the technology is reintroduced.
We also provide a family component to set the child up for success. Parents participate in family therapy sessions with your child’s assigned counselor while at Camp Pocono Trails. We also teach parents how to best support their child at home.
Our professional staff includes therapists, teachers, and program specialists. Based in a home-like setting, we help teenagers develop the motivation and drive to reinvent their lives and set goals for life after high school.
While not the primary focus of the program, we can teach parents how to set controls to limit game time. Parents need to be careful to avoid a limiting-only approach. Limiting game time needs to be done in conjunction with developing the motivation to pursue other activities as well.
At our summer camps for video game addiction, we help Massachusetts families prepare the home for the student’s transition back. Ensuring your child’s success back at home and for life after their teen years is our top priority.
Residential Treatment Centers Versus Doing Nothing
We know that teens who play online excessively have lower self-esteem, read less, and score lower on tests. Sitting for long periods of time can result in weight and health issues. Missing out on face-to-face interactions can set your child behind socially.
Teens face many challenges today. Some believe they will be the next Youtube star or the next champion video game player. Parents often have difficulty arguing this logic with their teen. At Camp Pocono Trails we can introduce your child to more real life pursuits in a supportive atmosphere.
At Camp Pocono Trails, we focus on teaching coping skills and develop insight something no pill has the ability to do. We also take a positive approach. We dont see your child as broken they simply need to learn new skills and develop new habits. Punitive programs that seek to tear a child down and rebuild them can result in a child simply pushing back harder than before.
Video Game Addiction Treatment: What Can Massachusetts Parents Do Now?
In general, if a child is unwilling to participate in outpatient therapy, or if outpatient therapy in Massachusetts is just not making the changes you want, we can help at our Pennsylvania based summer camp. A summer camp for video game addiction that is specifically designed for your child’s unique needs is your best path forward.
The next step up from outpatient therapy is residential help or video game rehab. Residential help provides a reset on family relationships, but also with the relationship the child has with video games and the internet. Simply put, the surest way to change a child’s video game habits is to create a total reset with online activity. Thats where our gaming rehab comes into play.
The group component of our summer camp for video game addiction is what it’s all about. At Camp Pocono Trails, we engage our campers as part of an interdependent team that works on puzzles, games, or team building projects. It takes the entire group to overcome the challenge. Interactions become grist for the mill in therapy, and therapists can intervene in real time to develop insight and practice coping skills.
Best of all, campers get socialization practice and learn how to interact with each other in socially appropriate ways. If your child is socially behind, being bullied, or needs social practice, our gaming rehab is where they should be.
Who does Camp Pocono Trails help?
Camp Pocono Trails helps teens struggling with issues similar to those below:
– Addictive Behaviors
– Social Issues
– Social isolation
– Low Self Esteem
– Poor Communication Skills
– Autism Spectrum
– Video game addiction
– Depression
– ADHD
– Impulse Control
– School Refusal
– Family Conflict
– Trauma
– Social Anxiety Disorder
– Anxiety
– Technology Addiction
Resources
Online Gaming Help: Strategize for Success
If we simply take the strategy of putting external controls on gaming or internet-connected devices, we have done nothing to develop the child’s ability to self-regulate their gaming or browsing behavior independently. However, if you need to put up some structure now, here is a guide for setting up Playstation spending limits and gaming times:
How to set parental controls and spending limits on PS4: https://www.playstation.com/en-au/get-help/help-library/my-account/parental-controls/ps4-parental-controls/
By creating a sub-account for your child you can prevent them from accessing PlayStation Store content that is unsuitable for their age, user-generated content and online gameplay. You can also stop your associated sub account from making purchases without your consent.
In this article you can learn about the parental controls available on PlayStation products: https://www.playstation.com/en-au/get-help/help-library/my-account/parental-controls/age-ratings-and-parental-controls/
Smartphone and Tablet Resources for Video Game Addiction
Kids are becoming increasingly tech savvy these days. Its hard for us as parents to keep up. At Camp Pocono Trails we’ve hear it all – campers bypassing routers, logging on to friends routers next door, creating proxies, you name it and we’ve heard it!
Here are some resources specifically for smartphones and tablets. These devices are especially problematic for parents because they are portable and you cant just block them through your router if your child is connecting at school or a friends house:
Android Devices: https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/how-to/google-android/android-parental-controls-3461359/
Apple Products: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201304
Google Play Store: https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/1075738?hl=en
Camp Pocono Trails Helps Massachusetts Families From Cities Such As:
Some examples of cities from Massachusetts which may have families who could use Camp Pocono Trails: Boston Worcester Springfield Lowell Cambridge New Bedford Brockton Quincy Lynn Fall River Newton Somerville Lawrence Waltham Haverhill Malden Medford Taunton Chicopee Weymouth Town Revere Peabody