Free OLG-Anon Gaming & Internet Family Peer Support — Online, Nationwide
OLG-Anon is the family-and-friends branch of On-Line Gamers Anonymous® (OLGA), a 12-step self-help fellowship founded in 2002 by Liz Woolley after her son Shawn died by suicide as a direct result of online gaming addiction. OLG-Anon supports parents, partners, siblings, and friends of someone with gaming, internet, or screen addiction.
What to Expect
Confidential one-hour Zoom meetings where loved ones share their experience with someone else’s gaming or internet addiction. OLG-Anon adapts the 12 Steps for family/friends of gamers — the focus is on the loved one’s own recovery and wellbeing, not on changing the gamer. Discussions cover boundary-setting around devices, navigating relationships fractured by gaming, supporting recovery without enabling, and processing the grief and helplessness that often accompany a loved one’s addiction. Forums on the OLG-Anon website let members connect asynchronously between meetings.
Meeting Schedule
Monday evenings 7:30 PM Eastern — joint meeting for OLGA members (recovering gamers) and OLG-Anon members (family/friends). Thursday evenings 9:00 PM Eastern — meeting specifically for parents and loved ones of gamers. All meetings are online via Zoom and accessible to anyone with internet access.
Who This Group Is For
Parents, partners, siblings, adult children, and friends of someone with excessive video game playing or internet use that has crossed into gaming disorder (now recognized by the World Health Organization). Members come from families dealing with adolescent gaming addiction, adult gaming addiction, MMO/online-game addiction, mobile-game addiction, gambling-adjacent gaming, and broader internet/screen addiction patterns.
Why Peer Support Works
Gaming addiction is still poorly understood by many mental-health professionals and often dismissed by family and friends outside the household (“it’s just a phase,” “all teens play games”). OLG-Anon connects loved ones with peers who recognize gaming addiction for the destructive force it can be and provides community for the specific shape of that grief and exhaustion.
How to Join
Visit olganon.org for Zoom links to the weekly OLG-Anon meetings, access to the family/friends forums, and information about Liz Woolley’s organization. Contact olga@olganon.org with questions about meetings, anonymity protocols, or starting a local group.