15 ways to give back around DC this holiday season

By WTOP Staff
November 15, 2018 | 6:44 AM

WASHINGTON — ‘Tis the season for giving. If you’re looking for a way to give back to the D.C.-area community, whether through time or turkeys, here are some ideas.

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WTOP’s Rachel Nania, Dan Friedell, Dick Uliano and Teta Alim contributed to this report.

This new video game can help prevent depression in teens, researchers say

By Steve Karesh
August 21, 2026 | 1:37 PM

Depression is a growing problem among American teenagers, and a group of researchers at Dartmouth College have found a novel way to help reduce it: playing a video game. The game is called PlaySmart and it works by giving players real-life scenarios to navigate “and then they have the opportunity to interact and choose healthy options or unhealthy options," said Caroline Barry, who is on the team at Dartmouth that developed PlaySmart. "If they choose unhealthy options, it takes them down a track with more severe consequences.” The game is, in some ways, like rehearsing for complicated situations that a teenager might face at home or at school "without the severe consequences of real life," she said.

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