Raffael “Dr. B” Boccamazzo, the clinical director of Take This, will leave the nonprofit for gaming mental health at the end of this year.
Take This made the announcement after Boccamazzo posted the change on his LinkedIn account.
“It’s been a year of transition at Take This, and it is with bittersweet sentiment that we share that Dr. B, Take This’ clinical director, will be leaving at the end of this year,” Take This said on its web site. “We want to express our heartfelt appreciation for Dr. B’s decade of dedication to Take This. His kindness, insight, and knowledge has been invaluable, and his impact on the Take This team and community will not be forgotten. Below is a heartfelt letter from Dr. B about the upcoming change.”
Boccamazzo joined Take This as a volunteer/staffer in 2014. It was started to serve the game industry in 2012 by Russ Pitts and Mark Kline after the suicide of game journalist Matt Hughes. Kline served as the founding clinical director and Boccamazzo replaced him after Kline left. Boccamazzo’s pending departure comes just a week after Eve Crevoshay, longtime executive director, also resigned from Take This. Kelli Dunlap filled Crevoshay’s role.
“There’s so much I’m proud to have done with the org,” Boccamazzo said. “However, the truth is that nonprofit life is hard. Since I became a dad earlier this year, I find my focus is more on my family. I can’t commit to all the extra hours required of being a director at a small nonprofit organization while maintaining the focus on my family that they deserve.”
He added, “I’d end up underserving everyone on both sides of that coin. As my schedule allows, I’d eventually like to find ways to support the org in a more limited capacity, but for now I need to focus on me and my family.”
Both Crevoshay and Boccamazzo were frequent speakers at game industry events where they stressed the importance of mental health for game developers. And they both spoke at GamesBeat events. Boccamazzo spoke in 2021 in a virtual GamesBeat event on how to avoid burnout as well as a panel on employee mental health in 2022. Crevoshay received the Vanguard Award from Games for Change and she also received our Up-and-Comer Award for GamesBeat.
Boccamazzo said he looked forward to the remaining staff at Take This to take the organization and continue its mission.
“I don’t entirely know what’s next for me, other than focusing on my family and the psychology practice I run,” Boccamazzo said. “I’d like to keep at least one toe dipped in games. If you might need a psychologist with a decade of experience working within the game industry on things like burnout, mental health representation in media, content creator mental health, tabletop roleplaying games, crunch culture, and other things, I’ll be around, and I’d love to hear from you.”
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