Online spaces like forums, chat rooms, social media, and video games offer individuals a way to connect that may not be as easy—or even possible—in real life. Most digital communities allow members to remain anonymous and make it easy to find others who share their interests, values, and identities—including ones they don’t express outwardly in their everyday lives.
The communities that form around video games are facilitated by the new ways of interacting online that have come about over the last several years. To collaborate, players often use tools beyond the game, such as platforms like Discord, where groups can converse via text or voice chat. These platforms also allow gamers to stay connected when they’re not playing.
When he returned from military service in Iraq, U.S. Army Captain Stephen Machuga found that playing video games took his mind off the severe anxiety he was experiencing. In 2015, he founded Stack Up with the goal of using video games to help other veterans and active duty military. The organization sends games and consoles to deployed units and veterans, funds trips to gaming events, and more—all with the mission of supporting mental health.
What Machuga didn’t anticipate was that this initiative would also end up including a 24/7 crisis intervention program. As more veterans, active duty military members, and civilians joined Stack Up’s Discord server to play games together, Colder Carras says, they quickly realized that many members faced challenging life situations—like relationship loss or financial ruin—and felt overwhelmed and unable to cope. What’s more: they trusted each other—peers with shared experiences and love for video games—to help them through crises and mental health struggles.
So the members of Stack Up came up with a way to help themselves: Two first responders in the community created the Stack Up Overwatch Program (StOP), which officially launched in 2018, to offer 24/7 peer-based mental health and crisis support. The group worked with the PsychArmor Institute—a nonprofit that educates people on how to support military members and veterans—to formalize the nearly 40-hour training process of becoming a StOP volunteer.
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