My son wasn’t lazy.
He wasn’t unmotivated
And he certainly wasn’t ‘just playing too many video games.
He was gifted. Funny. Highly intelligent. Accepted into university. Full of potential.
And yet, behind closed doors, he was quietly disappearing into a digital world that felt safer, more rewarding, and far harder to leave than any of us understood.
What I didn’t know at the time was that his brain was also navigating ADHD.
And that changed everything.
Because for many neurodivergent young people, video games aren’t simply entertainment.
They can become…
🎮 Dopamine
🎮 Regulation
🎮 Escape
🎮 Identity
🎮 Survival
Over the past decade—as an award-winning speaker, family coach, and through my work with families around the world and my partnership with Game Quitters—I’ve seen the same heartbreaking pattern repeat itself:
Bright, capable young people…
Plummeting grades…
Sleep reversal…
Social withdrawal…
Declining mental health…
Families feeling helpless, confused, and alone.
That is why I wrote my third book:
📖 Wired to Game: Neurodiversity and the Addiction Trap
This is more than my son Jake’s recovery story.
It’s a roadmap for parents, educators, clinicians, and neurodivergent young adults to better understand:
✔ Why ADHD, giftedness, autism traits, anxiety, and depression can increase vulnerability to problematic gaming
✔ Why willpower is rarely enough
✔ How to recognize early warning signs
✔ What actually helps young people reclaim balance, confidence, and control
Most importantly…
Gaming addiction is not a life sentence.
And neurodivergence is not a deficit.
When we understand the brain, we change the outcome.
✨ Publishing details coming soon.