Game Changer
Australian Story profiles psychologist Wayne Warburton, here to help parents with kids who are addicted to video gaming.
Many parents will tell you they're worried their children are spending too much time playing video games and are desperate about what to do.
Wayne Warburton, a plumber-turned-psychologist, reckons he can help.
Together with German researchers, Dr Warburton, from Macquarie University, has devised a 3-month program to help the minority of teenagers who are gaming excessively and who feel they've lost control of their lives.
Caleb, 13, and Rhys, 15, who both joined the program, got drawn more deeply into gaming through the Covid lockdowns.
"It's living on the edge, never quite knowing what's going to happen next when they are distressed around their lack of ability to game", says Jude, Rhys' mother.
"When my behaviour had been at my worst, I was probably like throwing stuff, yelling, kicking things, punching walls", Rhys admits.
When Jude heard about the work of Wayne Warburton, she thought ‘hallelujah'.
Warburton says studies show excessive gaming can change the brain and inhibit impulse control, making some gamers aggressive.
"I've seen numerous cases of parents needing to take apprehended violence orders against their kids because they become so violent when the screens are taken away", he says.
Australian Story has gained exclusive access to follow Rhys and Caleb as they embark on this ground-breaking program to try and change their lives and take control of their gaming habits. But will it work?
Producer: Janine Cohen
Trailer
Recently Updated Shows
Murder in a Small Town
Karl Alberg moves to a quiet coastal town to soothe a psyche that has been battered by big-city police work. But this gentle paradise has more than its share of secrets, and Karl will need to call upon all the skills that made him a world-class detective in solving the murders that, even in this seemingly idyllic setting, continue to wash up on his shore.
Fire Country
In Fire Country, seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence, young convict Bode Donovan joins a firefighting program that returns him to his small Northern California hometown, where he and other inmates work alongside elite firefighters to extinguish massive blazes across the region.
Reacher
Reacher follows Jack Reacher, a veteran military police investigator who has just recently entered civilian life. Reacher is a drifter, carrying no phone and the barest of essentials as he travels the country and explores the nation he once served. When Reacher arrives in the small town of Margrave, Georgia, he finds a community grappling with its first homicide in 20 years. The cops immediately arrest him and eyewitnesses claim to place Reacher at the scene of the crime. While he works to prove his innocence, a deep-seated conspiracy begins to emerge, one that will require Reacher's keen mind and hard-hitting fists to deal with. One thing above all is for sure: They picked the wrong guy to take the fall.
The Rookie
The Rookie is inspired by a true story. John Nolan is the oldest rookie in the LAPD. At an age where most are at the peak of their career, Nolan cast aside his comfortable, small town life and moved to L.A. to pursue his dream of being a cop. Now, surrounded by rookies twenty years his junior, Nolan must navigate the dangerous, humorous and unpredictable world of a "young" cop, determined to make his second shot at life count.
Chicago P.D.
District 21 of the Chicago Police Department is made up of two distinctly different groups. There are the uniformed cops who patrol the beat and go head to head with the city's street crimes. And there's the Intelligence Unit, the team that combats the city's major offenses - organized crime, drug trafficking, high profile murders and beyond. These are their stories.