Our Team

Kelli Dunlap, PsyD, MA first joined Take This in 2019 and served as a program manager, community manager, and community director before being named executive director in 2024. She brings on over a decade of experience working at the intersection of mental health and games, including esports, community management, and game design, and uses this experience to inform and drive Take This’ mission. In addition to her work at Take This, Dr. Dunlap is a licensed clinical psychologist, holds a Masters in game design, and serves as a researcher-in-residence at American University’s Game Center. She is an award-winning game designer and has collaborated on game design projects with organizations including the National Institute of Mental Health, UNESCO, VOX Media, and U.S. Congressional staffers. Dr. Dunlap is an internationally recognized researcher and speaker on the intersection of games and mental health, especially pertaining to mental health representation in games and ethical game design.

Kelli is a white, heterosexual, cisgender woman.

Raffael Boccamazzo, PsyD (more affectionately known as “Doctor B”) is a psychologist and the clinical director of Take This. He has served in this role since 2015 overseeing many of Take This’ educational and public-facing programs, also applying his perspective as an autism and ADHD self-advocate. Outside his work with Take This, Doctor B is an expert on the applied use of tabletop role playing games in clinical and learning settings and is the co-creator of a pantheoretical model on their applied use. He is also a chapter author in the book Video Games and Well-being: Press Start, co-authored Gardens of Fog – a best-selling, mental health-themed, charity, adventure module for Dungeons & Dragons, and is a frequent contributor – on and off camera – to the YouTube channel How to ADHD. An award-winning speaker and presenter in the game community, Dr. B leads dozens of talks and panels each year and has been featured in such media outlets as the New York Times and gaming publications like Game Informer, Polygon, Kotaku, Gamasutra, SyFy Wire, Geek Wire, and VentureBeat.

Doctor B is an autistic, cisgender, heterosexual, white male.

Elizabeth Kilmer, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist and a qualitative researcher in game studies for Take This, focused on developing resources to help the games industry combat extremism in gaming spaces. In addition to her work with Take This, Dr. Kilmer is passionate about research and education in applied gaming, has trained hundreds of individuals in the use of therapeutically applied role-playing games, and co-authored the book Therapeutically Applied Role-Playing Games: The Game to Grow Method. In her clinical practice, Dr. Kilmer uses games like D&D, Minecraft, and Animal Crossing to support insight, growth, and change with her clients. Her clinical areas of specialty include trauma, substance use, neurodivergence, and psychological assessment.

Elizabeth is a white, queer, cisgender woman with ADHD.

Annie Larkin, MLIS is a librarian and gamer. Annie has a Master’s degree in Library & Information Science focusing on accessibility, outreach, and community partnerships. Their previous work includes mental health and domestic violence non-profit organizations, academic, school, and public libraries, and administrative positions in academia and public television. They are excited about their newest adventure with Take This.

Annie is a white, queer, nonbinary, neurodivergent person.

Sarah Hays (she/her) is a doctor of counseling psychology and licensed mental health counselor in Washington State. Her passion for serving the gaming community has been clear since before she started working for Take This in 2018, where she serves as the Accelerate Program Manager – providing revolutionary mentorship to marginalized individuals seeking to bridge their careers between games and mental health. She also delivers live, educational content like workshops, panels, and co-hosts Take This’ Twitch stream. Never satisfied with limiting herself to serving one part of the gaming community, Dr. Hays is an outpatient therapist for the game-based mental health nonprofit Save Point Behavioral Health, specializing in working with games industry, ADHD, and LGBTQIA+ populations. She has served as the Director of Programming for Queer Women of Esports, as an advisor for the Games Hotline, and is one of the editors of the groundbreaking book A Clinician’s Guide to Geek Therapy. She has authored a number of other works, including a chapter in Video Games and Well-Being and The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: The Witcher. She will be releasing her first solo-edited book this fall, The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Black Mirror.

Sarah is a White, queer, cisgender, neurodivergent woman.

Liz isn’t quite sure how she got here. After college a she spent a year working in France, then got her Masters in the Art of Teaching at Boston University. Since then, Liz has been teaching French to middle and high school students. After her own lifelong struggles with anxiety and trichotillomania, she focused her post-graduate professional development on social-emotional wellbeing and how to better serve as an advocate for her students struggling with mental health issues. Liz is also a lifelong gamer. Some of her earliest memories are of sitting around a console or a board game with her family (Monopoly nights never ended well). So it just made sense, when the opportunity arose, to volunteer with TakeThis.

Never one to say no, Liz went from volunteer to Discord moderator to coordinator and has never looked back. Liz loves organizing community events, and has been a major contributor to behind-the-scenes work and volunteer training materials. She co-hosts TakeThis Plays, and hopes to continue to make a name for herself in the TTRPG community.

Liz is a White, queer, cisgender woman.

Laura Dunson Caputo, LPCC-S, M.S.Ed, is a mental health counselor in Cleveland, Ohio, who received her degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Duquesne University and is currently pursuing a PhD in Counselor Education & Supervision at Kent State University. She is a relational-cultural counselor, and regularly incorporates creative and geeky interventions into her work with adult and adolescent clients, as well as research, teaching, and supervision. Laura’s clinical and research experience includes a focus on power (particularly in context of sociocultural factors), and ways to advocate, create coalitions, and work towards systemic change. Additionally, she researches portrayals of mental health in all facets of media and ways to center lived experiences in narratives. Laura is passionate about undermining mental health stigma and advocating for accessible mental health knowledge and support in the geeky and gaming communities.

Brian is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over a decade of experience in mental healthcare, youth services, and LGBTQIA+ advocacy in the game industry. He’s most well known for his time with GaymerX, where he worked to guide their community programming and build their consulting services for game developers. Through his previous consulting work, Brian has helped studios create more inclusive workplace cultures for LGBTQIA+ persons and craft more thoughtful LGBTQIA+ game narratives.  He currently works as a private practice therapist in Texas specializing in LGBTQIA+ issues, geek culture and adolescents. 

Brian is a white, cisgender, LGBTQIA+, and neurodivergent man.

Pooja is a Doctoral Candidate in Clinical Psychology, Fellow of the American Psychological Association Minority Fellowship Program, and Workshop Consultant at Take This. She has a deep interest and research background in the relationship between biology, psychology, culture, and technology. At Take This, she customizes mental health workshops and training materials for game industry professionals, studios, and companies. Outside of her work, she enjoys baking and marveling at local botanical gardens.

Kaemsi is a fourth generation South African of Indian indentured-labourer descent, who is neurodivergent, and deals with chronic illness. She is moderator on Discord and Twitch with particular experience moderating online fandom spaces of varying sizes. She is also a Twitch Affiliate enjoying videogames and advocating for diversity, inclusivity and representation for marginalised people on her platform.

Kaemsi’s main focus is attaining her undergraduate degree in Psychology with the aim of becoming a licensed psychologist after further study, and winds down most often with playing video games, delving into a TTRPG game (usually D&D) or procrastinating from everything else with a new DIY project to spice things up.

Christopher Leech is a PhD Researcher from Liverpool, England, and is studying a PhD in Psychology researching video games and student mental health. He is passionate about video games, the people who play them and how we all experience mental health. Chris is a person with Albinism which means he’s visually impaired/legally blind. Chris also has lived experience of ill-mental health and speaking about it is something Chris thinks is important to help reduce stigmatisation.

When not working, Chris streams weekly on Twitch for his show Blind Psyche. The show is about mental health, psychology themes in the games being played and holding space to allow people to chat honestly, and openly. Chris is part of the Take This Streaming Ambassador Class of 2021, a champion for Safe In Our World, and has a number of academic representative roles. Chris hosts a podcast called Psyched to be with you in which every episode is a chat with an amazing guest about who they are, what they do and why they do it. 

Chris told us, “Having the opportunity to work with Take This is something I am beyond thrilled by. Being part of the community review board is an amazing opportunity and to work with the other members of the board is incredibly exciting. I can’t wait to start and be able to add my voice and experiences to those of my colleagues.”

LaTia Jacquise is a digital strategist, writer, creator, and variety streamer within the TTRPG industry. Chicago native LaTia currently works at Monte Cook Games as their Community Relations Coordinator and is a cast member of the D&D actual play Rivals of Waterdeep which airs Sundays on Twitch, serving as the Dungeon Master for its ninth and twelfth seasons. Most recently, she was a writer on Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep, a D&D adventure in partnership with Critical Role from Wizards of the Coast. She is also a Twitch affiliate who enjoys a variety of relaxing and low-effort games on her own channel as time allows, and interacting with her community.

LaTia is a Black, queer, neurodivergent woman.

Riana Manuel-Peña has first-hand knowledge on many sides of the gaming industry from localization to product marketing, with credits including Halo 5, Ori 1 & 2, and Tell Me Why. Her game development experience runs the gamut from AAA to indie titles and her favorite genres include action-adventure, loot shooters, narrative games, battle royales, and puzzle games. Riana has also combined her passion for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with her games industry experience in many appearances on shows such as What’s Good Games, Kinda Funny, IGN, Inside Gaming, Game Informer, and Paramount Plus’s Halo: Declassified as well as panels for DICE, Rooster Teeth, and Ubisoft. Always looking for a new challenge, she served as Brand Director of the G4 tv network during their re-launch and is now working as Zebra Partners’ Director of Brand and Unified Marketing to share her love of games with an even broader audience.

Marie is better known as Mxiety, a talk show host and writer. She believes in self-kindness, vulnerability, and helping everyone get access to the info they need for good mental health. You can learn more about her, the content she creates, and access other resources at mxiety.com. She’s a Twitch Partner, author featured on The Mighty, Medium, and others, part of the inaugural LinkedIn Creator Accelerator, partnered with Logitech, Streamloots, raising over $10K for mental health charities, and is a Take This Ambassador. Marie has ADHD, depression, and anxiety, and is an immigrant to the US.

Gabby is a mental health advocate from Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of New Brunswick. She is also currently a social work student (expected graduation in 2023) and hopes to become a mental health social worker. In her free time, she enjoys video games, art, and spending time in nature.  She also acts as a moderator for the Take This Discord and has been with them since the first PAX Online, where she volunteered as a moderator and Psychomancer. Gabby is Filipino-Canadian and is a member of the LGBTQ and disabled communities.

Gabby noted, “During the time I’ve been a moderator for Take This, I have become very fond of the gaming and mental health community. For me, helping others through mental health advocacy and through decreasing stigma is my passion.”

Tanya DePass is the founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a not-for-profit organization based in Chicago, which is dedicated to better diversification of all aspects of gaming. I Need Diverse Games serves the community by supporting marginalized developers, attendance at the Game Developer Conference by participating in the GDC Scholarship program, helps assist attendance at other industry events, and is seeking partnership with organizations and initiatives. Tanya is a lifelong Chicagoan who loves everything about gaming, #INeedDiverseGames spawn point, and wants to make the industry better and more inclusive for everyone. She’s part of the Rivals of Waterdeep actual play stream on twitch.tv/rivalsofwaterdeep, a partnered Twitch variety broadcaster; and often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics online, at conventions and as a public speaker.. 

She’s also contributed to publications at Green Ronin, Paizo and Monte Cook Games and is the co-developer for the Fifth Season RPG based on N.K. Jemisin’s three time Hugo award winning Broken Earth trilogy. She’s the creator and Creative Director of Into the Mother Lands, a Twitch supported RPG and Actual Play stream, airing weekly on her channel, twitch.tv/cypheroftyr. Additionally, she is a Senior Annenberg labs Civic Media Fellow at USC. She’s also the creator and Creative Director of Into the Mother Lands, a new sci fi afro-futurist RPG developed with a team of all POC and Black creators; live streamed on her twitch channel, /cypheroftyr. 

She’s named as one of The Game Awards Future Class 2020, a diverse group of builders, thinkers and dreamers whose voices elevate and diversify our artform. It recognizes individuals around the world who represent the bright, bold and inclusive future for video games. She was also named as one of Gamers of the Year 2020 by Kotaku along with three of her contemporaries. She was also invited to the Xbox MVP program in February 2021.

Her work to make the industry more inclusive has been highlighted in Game Changer, Directed by Tina Charles, WNBA star & olympian as well as filmmaker. The short documentary premiered at Tribeca 2021, as part of the Queen Collective; an initiative started by Queen Latifah, supported by Proctor & Gamble in an effort to get more Black women into film making. Game Changer was also featured as part of BETHer’s 2021 Juneteenth Programming on 19 June 2021.

Tanya is the programming & diversity coordinator for OrcaCon and GaymerX. She also serves on the Board of Directors for OrcaCon and was named the Chair for Take This in January 2023. She often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics at conventions. Her writing about games and games critique appears in Uncanny Magazine, Polygon, Wiscon Chronicles, Vice Gaming, Paste Games, Mic, and other publications. She’s the editor of Game Devs and Others: Tales from the Margins (2018, CRC Press) and contributed to The Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox. (2019, CRC Press)

Melissa (Missy) Cortese Foxman is Senior Director of Federal Government Relations at the Entertainment Software Association, the trade association representing the U.S. video game industry. She is the former Executive Director and a current board member of the Women’s High-Tech Coalition (WHTC), a non-profit membership organization for women who work on tech policy in the public and private sectors. Based in Washington, DC, Missy has advocated on a variety of technology and telecom issues throughout her career.  Outside of work, she manages her family of two daughters, two cats, one husband, and one dog and tries to play as much tennis as possible.

Jon Berroya is a Director on Google’s Government Affairs & Public Policy team. Jon has worked on technology-related legal and policy issues for nearly 25 years, most recently serving as Internet Association’s Senior Vice President & General Counsel, and the Entertainment Software Association’s Vice President, Legal Affairs. Jon’s experience includes advising leading tech companies and associations on a wide range of issues, including content moderation, data security and privacy, intellectual property enforcement, and export controls. In his free time, Jon can usually be found walking the family dog, cheering for his sons on sports fields all over the DC area, and playing Fortnite trios with them.

Samantha Blackmon (she/her/hers) is an Associate Professor at Purdue University. Her research focuses on games as cultural critique and the intersections of race, gender, and technology in and around the games industry. She is a DEI speaker and consultant who has worked with developers and platforms of all sizes. She is also a content creator as well as an anti-academic who has been featured in publications such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Verge as well as numerous podcasts and talk shows. Her work can be found in Feminist Media Histories, Computer Games and Technical Communication, CCC, Computers and Composition, JAC, and CEA Critic. She is the co-founder and host of the award-winning feminist game studies blog and podcast Not Your Mama’s Gamer, a five time winner of Microsoft’s MVP Award, and the winner of the SIGDOC Rigo Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to the field of communication design in game design.

Eve Crevoshay served as the Executive Director of Take This from 2018 – 2024. She is a 20-year veteran of the nonprofit sector, with experience across social services, education, mental health, and advocacy. During her leadership of Take This, Eve received the inaugural GamesBeat Up and Comer award and the Games for Change Festival Vanguard Award, and served as an advisor to a number of games organizations and services. She lives in the Seattle area with her husband, daughter, and dogs. 

Eve identifies as a white, heterosexual, cisgender woman.

Kate Edwards is a 26-year veteran and an outspoken, award-winning advocate of the game industry and the former Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). She is also a geographer and corporate strategist who pioneered and specializes in content culturalization. Following 13 years at Microsoft, she has consulted on many game and non-game projects for BioWare, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and many other companies. In 2018, she was honored with Reboot Develop’s annual Hero Award and also presented with IndieCade’s annual Game Changer Award. She is also profiled in the December 2018 publication Women in Gaming: 100 Professionals of Play.

Pete Hines is the vice president of PR and marketing at Bethesda Softworks, where he has worked for the last 15+ years. A graduate of Wake Forest University with an MBA from George Mason University, Pete worked in marketing and public relations for several non-profit organizations before his arrival at Bethesda in 1999, and has played various roles in every game the company has published since then. When he isn’t working he’s an avid soccer player, sports fan, and gamer. He joined Take This in early 2015 as a member of the advisory board.

Dr. Harpreet Malla is a licensed clinical psychologist who is currently in private practice serving Los Angeles & Orange counties. Dr. Malla has a passion for working with identity development as it pertains to LGBTQ and bicultural or immigrant populations, and recently has seen a rise in couples navigating arranged or other nontraditional marital practices in her work such as poly constellations, those who practice kink, or are in interracial relationships. She has served as the former Diversity Chair for the Los Angeles County Psychological Association, and is now the Chair-Elect for Division VII at the state level with the California Psychological Association where she advocates for marginalized groups and seeks to promote understanding through education. To add some levity to her professional portfolio, Dr. Malla has also presented at pop culture events to bring psychology to the masses in fun ways at Wonder-Con and San Diego Comic-Con. 

Raashi Sikka is the Vice President of Global Diversity & Inclusion at Ubisoft, where she combines her passion for people, culture, and entertainment to help foster a more inclusive environment within the gaming industry . She joined the company in February 2021.

Diversity and inclusion have been center stage in Raashi’s life from even before she can recall. A storyteller at heart, Raashi began her career in India’s television industry, making her mark as an executive producer for non-fiction shows.

Bringing her hands-on, action-oriented approach, Raashi joined Uber in India in 2013 as a founding team member to launch and build the brand in the country. From 2017, she served as a founding member of Uber’s Global D&I team. As the Head of Diversity and Inclusion for Uber across EMEA, APAC and Global Uber Eats, she was responsible for strengthening the company’s diversity and inclusion efforts by nurturing the organizational culture as a foundation.

Raashi is the co-founder of a boutique consulting D&I firm called The Inclusion Company. She also serves as an operating partner at Capital T, a seed stage VC fund in the Netherlands.

Christian Svensson is the Head of Global Portfolio and Acquisitions at PlayStation. Prior to his current post, he has been the Chief Operating Officer at Six Foot, Corporate Officer/SVP at Capcom, VP of Entertainment Publishing at Midway, CEO of MCV USA, Editorial Director at Computec Media USA, Editor-in-Chief of Next Generation Online and CEO of Svensson consulting which counted Digital Development Management, Digital Domain 3.0, Q-Loc S.A and many others among his clients. He is a graduate of Bucknell University. He has participated on several Boards of Directors and Advisors including the Board of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, the PC/Open Gaming Alliance and Interactive Entertainment Professionals.