Liz Woolley

Liz Woolley has been a warrior in the battleground of the video game addiction war for almost 20 years. Her career was in Information Technology for 30 years. She has been a software programmer, systems analyst, upgrade specialist, and technical support administrator. Liz has been involved with several 12-step and other  self-help groups for over 38 years.

She has been on the Dr. Phil show, 48 Hours, CBC Market Place, Fox Nation’s Deep Dive and NPR radio and interviewed for Wired magazine, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, the LA Times, and numerous other publications.  

In 2001 on Thanksgiving morning, Liz found her son Shawn who had tragically killed himself after getting sucked into the clutches of a video game. After this horrifying tragedy, Liz started a 12-step fellowship for video game addicts (OLGA®). www.olganon.org  Soon after, Olg-Anon, a group for family members, loved ones and friends  was formed. Then Outreach, a community for those who inform and reach out to others (Outreach). 

The background of my speech - I share what happened when my son Shawn  became addicted to video games and how it affected him and our family. I/we (John Langel our Executive Outreach Director) then discuss information (with statistics) that we are aware of, about video games/social media/internet and how it is affecting our children, adults and society today. We share ideas of what can be done to counter-act the technical use.