Take This is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit charity founded in 2013 by veteran journalists Russ Pitts and Susan Arendt and clinical psychologist Dr. Mark Kline, Psy.D. in response to the tragic suicide of a colleague.
Mission
TakeThis, Inc. seeks to inform our community about mental health issues, to provide education about mental disorders and mental illness prevention, and to reduce the stigma of mental illness.
What we do
Take This helps those who suffer by letting them know that they are not alone and providing information on treatment options and how to find help.
Take This provides friends, family and coworkers of those suffering from emotional distress with options for intervention and education about mental wellness.
Take This educates greater institutions about effective methods of helping employees who suffer from emotional issues in order to promote healthier and more productive work environments.
How we do it
Take This curates a repository at takethis.org of stories and articles from people who have been there and how they found help or managed their symptoms.
Take This commissions white papers and scholarly articles from leading clinicians about effective treatment and intervention.
Take This advocates for mental health awareness and reform at public events through speaking engagements, panel presentations and performances.
Take This creates "safe spaces" at conventions and expositions, where people who suffer from emotional issues can find peace and regain their calm.
Why it's important
Many who suffer from emotional issues feel like there's no one they can talk to, or who will understand. They suffer in silence, and silence can lead to further symptoms. Take This offers perspective and hope.
How you can help
You can donate to Take This.
Your tax-deductible donation will help Take This spread more awareness to more people in more places.
You can share your story.
Sharing is the core of what we do. If you or someone you know suffers from an emotional issue, let us share your perspective so that someone else might not feel alone.
You can volunteer with Take This.
Your time and energy will help Take This reach further, faster.
You can shop at Amazon.
Simply go to our Amazon Smile page and sign up to support Take This. Every time you shop, we'll get a small donation from Amazon. It's quick, it's easy and it doesn't cost you a thing. And it helps us out a lot.
Who We Are
Take This Governing Board & Company Officers
The Take This, Inc. governing board provides executive leadership for all Take This activities according to the organization's bylaws. Board members are elected by a unanimous decision of existing board members. The board is designed to be comprised of members from the video game community, video game development industry and the field of clinical mental health.
Russ Pitts, Board Chairman & Executive Director
Russ Pitts is a video producer and director, award-nominated journalist, a six-time Webby winning website editor, author of the book "How Video Games Are Made", founder and President of Flying Saucer Media, co- founder and former Features Editor of Polygon.com, producer of the documentary web series “Human Angle” and “Press Reset” and co-founder and President of the mental health education and advocacy non-profit TakeThis.org.
Susan Arendt, Secretary and Editorial Director
Susan Arendt has been working in the video game industry since 2007, adding her expertise to sites including Game|Life, 1up, The Escapist, Joystiq and GamesRadar+. She's passionate about mentoring the next generation of game journalists and bringing positivity back into the gaming space. She will happily talk your ear off about Doctor Who, horror movies, and video games...then she'll start showing you videos of adorable animals. Look for her on Twitter: @SusanArendt.
Dr. Michelle Apple, L.C.S.W., Board Member
Randy Pitts, Treasurer
Dr. Mark Kline, Psy.D, Vice-Chair and Vice-President
Mark Kline, PsyD is Clinical Director of the Human Relations Service, Inc, one of the nation’s oldest community mental health clinics, where he has served for 26 years. In addition to his work at HRS, Dr. Kline has a busy private practice and lectures widely to parent and teacher groups about internet issues. He became interested in video games several years ago. This led to articles and a column for The Escapist, where he was the mind behind “Ask Dr. Mark.” Dr. Kline helped found Take This and serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors.
Pete Hines, Board Member
Pete Hines is the vice president of pr and marketing at Bethesda Softworks, where he has worked for the last 15+ years. A graduate of Wake Forest University with an MBA from George Mason University, Pete worked in marketing and public relations for several non-profit organizations before his arrival at Bethesda in 1999, and has played various roles in every game the company has published since then. When he isn't working he's an avid soccer player, sports fan, and gamer. He joined Take This in early 2015 as a member of the advisory board.
Take This Advisory Board
The Take This advisory board is comprised of members from across all disciplines and industries impacted by Take This. Current members include journalists, game developers, performers and licensed mental health care clinicians.
Jacqui Collins, Development Director
Jacqui Collins is a project manager by trade and a project juggler by hobby, never content to have only one ball rolling at a time. Jacqui has managed websites, apps, and other marketing initiatives at various agencies while simultaneously doing everything from representing AAA games at events to promoting indie games on Kickstarter. She's been seen around the games industry since 2010, which is also when she enrolled in Full Sail University, from which she now holds a Master's in Entertainment Business. Jacqui's base of operations is her native New York, where she lives with her boyfriend, pet mice, and a multitude of video game consoles.
John Sylvester, Social Media Manager
John is the Marketing and Community Manager for ThinkGeek Solutions, creating officially licensed merch & online stores in partnership with video game studios. He is the volunteer Social Media Manager for TakeThis.org.
Suzanne Jackiw, Volunteer Manager and General Counsel
Suzanne is a graduate of Chicago-Kent College of Law. She is currently a Junior Associate at the Interactive Entertainment Law Group and Assistant to the Board at the Video Game Bar Association.
Shane Liesegang
Shane Liesegang is a game developer and writer who has worked at Walt Disney Imagineering, Electronic Arts, and Bethesda Game Studios. He's now an independent consultant for games and other entertainment experiences, most recently contributing to unannounced projects at Sony and Disney. He tweets way too much @OptimistPanda.
Sean Sands
Sean Sands has been a freelance writer for more than 20 years and is co-founder of GamersWithJobs.com where he co-hosts the weekly podcast "The Gamers With Jobs Conference Call," and writes a weekly column on a wide range of issues relevant to adult gamers. In addition, Sean also works as a digital marketing professional for a Fortune 500 information technology company where he supports their Thought Leadership segment as a Managing Editor advising the business on broad-level content deployment strategies.
Dr. Jonas Bromberg, Psy.D.
Ashley Esqueda
Kristin Lindsay
Dr. Raffael Boccamazzo, Clinical Director, PsyD, L.M.H.C.A., Clinical Director
"Doctor B" earned his bachelor degree from the Evergreen State College where he studied psychology and propaganda theory. Between college and graduate school, he worked for several years as a pharmacy technician. His master’s degree in clinical psychology was earned in 2010 and his doctorate in clinical psychology (PsyD) in 2013, both from the Washington School of Professional Psychology. During his doctoral training he spent several years working with adults, adolescents, and families in both outpatient and residential settings, and his predoctoral internship was completed at the Monroe Correctional Complex. Currently, he am credentialed as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate, a pre-licensure credentialing providing therapy and psychological assessments under supervision from two licensed clinical psychologists as he gains postdoctoral hours.
Dr. Anna DiNoto Myers, AFK Coordinator (West)
Dr. Anna DiNoto Myers is a behavior specialist and psychotherapist that specializes in treating Interactive Media Addictions and Autism Spectrum Disorders. She has a private practice for behavioral health services in Redmond, Washington. Anna loves spending time with her husband and kitty cats, hiking, biking, running, and playing video games in her free time. She is passionate about advocating and educating the general public about effective prevention and intervention strategies for mental health challenges experienced by individuals that play video games.
Nissa Campbell, Website Editor
Nissa Campbell is a longtime writer and a longtime gamer who's keen on finding ways to bring those two loves together. She started out as writing about games for sites including TouchArcade and VentureBeat, then dived into to writing interactive fiction and developing games of her own. Nissa's also a longtime supporter of mental health initiatives, an issue dear to her heart. Joining Take This as website editor allows her to bring many of her passions together in the hopes of making the video game industry a happier, healthier place for everyone involved.
She lives just outside Vancouver, Canada with her husband and dog. You can find her on Twitter @nissacam if you're looking for an eclectic mix of politics, games, cute animals, games, assorted nonsense and games.
Sarah LeBoeuf
Sarah LeBoeuf is a professional copywriter and freelance game journalist based near Philadelphia, PA. She joined Take This during its inception in 2012 and has been a member of the advisory board ever since, appearing on various PAX panels and volunteering in the PAX AFK Room. She's also dealt with anxiety and occasional depression for over a decade and is finally unafraid to talk about it. When not dealing with such heavy topics, Sarah is often playing video games, talking about video games, or writing about video games, often while drinking coffee and snuggling with her cat. You can follow her on Twitter @sarahthebeef.
Julian Murdoch
Aaron Linde
Jamie Dillon
For more information about Take This, please email: info@takethis.org
TakeThis, Inc seeks to educate, inform, and advocate about about mental health issues in our community. We do not provide mental health services or professional consultations. For information on when to seek dedicated clinical help and how to find it, please visit our "When to Seek Help" page. If you or someone you know is in crisis and in need of immediate intervention, please visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or call 1-800-273-8255.
Take This, Inc.
8311 Brier Creek Pkwy
Ste 105176
Raleigh, NC, 27617
EIN: 46-3882735