Internet Addiction Recovery Program

PRESS RELEASE

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First Detox Center for Internet Addicts Opens its Doors

Creates Solutions for Computer Related Addictive Behaviors

Video Game and Internet Addicts can now find solutions to the addictive behavior that devastates their marriages, careers, schooling, family life and health with the opening of  reStart: Internet Addiction Recovery Program. The first of its kind in the US, reStart is a 45-day program located in Fall City, Washington, near Redmond (home of Microsoft) and Seattle. It is designed specifically to help internet and video game addicts overcome their dependence on gaming, gambling, chatting, texting and other aspects of Internet Addiction. Co-founded by Cosette Rae, MSW, and Hilarie Cash, PhD, this 6-bed facility provides a family-style retreat where its participants can have an internet and video-game-free therapeutic experience.

Current research suggests that anywhere from 6-10 % of the online population is dependent on one or more aspects of cyber technology and the internet. Among gamers, those playing multi-user games (like World of Warcraft) appear to be addicted at much higher levels. Both China and South Korea have designated Internet Addiction as their #1 public health danger and have responded by developing multiple treatment programs. The United States, by contrast, has been slower to recognize and respond to the problem but now is beginning to take some active steps.  This program is part of that process.

Since Dr. Cash started Internet/Computer Addiction Services 10 years ago, she has recognized the need for this type of program. She now teams up with Cosette Rae, a clinical social worker who shares her passion for treating internet addicts and has offered her own retreat center for the program. Heavensfield  has been developed to provides a safe, but structured environment for the new home of the reStart Program.

The mission of this innovative program is to help adults, addicted to video games and the internet, detach from their high-tech distractions, find balance, and reconnect to the real world.  It is structured to include individual and group therapy, life-skills coaching, cooperative living, physical and nutritional education, mindfulness training, work and home-maintenance skill-building, 12-step meetings, and weekly, off-site, high-adventure expeditions.  The facility is located on a beautiful, 5-acre parcel of land in western Washington.

Hilarie Cash, PhD, co-author of Video Games and Your Kids: How Parents Stay in Control, is a psychotherapist who has been treating Internet and video game addiction since 1995. Recognized as a pioneer in this field, she has been interviewed by many media outlets, both national and international, including The New York Times, The BBC, US News and World Report, PBS, NPR. Cosette Rae, MSW, was a web designer and programmer before becoming a psychotherapist. She has been at the forefront of developments in computers and the internet, and brings this understanding to her work with cyber addicted individuals.

The facility and further details of the reStart program can be viewed at their website: www.NetAddictionRecovery.com.

For further information, contact the program at 425-417-1715

or Hilarie Cash, at 425-861-5504.

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