A way to reach those who need help.

This is gonna be long so apologizes, but it's a good idea about our tribunal and maybe a little extra added onto the tribunal to help players: Ok so quick back story... my name is Mitch, college student pursuing a PhD in Clinical Psychology. I've been playing this game since season 1 and I've always enjoyed it just because there is such a large variety, it never gets old. But ever since the beginning of the game, of course as I imagine everyone who has played this game, I have noticed...out of the norm behavior. People saying cruel statements, wishing cancer upon people (like....what?), you all know it, no need to repeat all of the phrases, but it made me quit for about a year and really put a damper on playing the game because there were so many people raging all of the time. The tribunal was made, it drastically helped to regulate toxic behavior and tone it down.... But did it actually HELP those people in reality, or just stop them from typing? The point I'm trying to make is, what can be done to help those people who seem to have so much anger behind the keyboard.

I volunteer at a crisis hotline called Common Ground, there we take in calls where people are, obviously, in crisis and help them with whatever they need. Our goal is to plant a seed for the caller, to give them the tools in order to help themselves, not for the workers to necessarily help/fix their problems. During my training, my trainer said something that really clicked, and that was "anger is just an outward expression of something else going on inside" whether that be a struggle in life, family issues, could be any number of things. Now here is where my idea comes into play.. With the phone and the text lines that we have at Common Ground, people have the chance to reach out for help if they're struggling or in crisis. So why not implement a system where that's possible within League of Legends?

We all know that there is a large amount of research showing that there is quite a big number of people playing video games to have depression or other disorders, who knows they might not have a disorder but just feel down cause they did bad on a test or got into a fight with a family member. So why not give them the chance to reach out and maybe talk to someone. Set up a chat line where people can go talk to someone in private, or take it a step further and for those people with a history of bad behavior, set up a system to message them asking them if there was more going on and if they wanted to talk about it? Plant a seed to help the player help themselves. Sure some people may laugh and treat it as a joke, but what if that player has been struggling and reaching out for help through his anger, no one ever made the effort to find out if something else has been going on, and he/she just took their life because they feels alone. Now I know that this may not happen on a frequent basis, but is it really that difficult to think that it isn't realistic?

I was once there, depressed, anti-social, spending literally every waking moment on my computer playing this game. I would flame, maybe not as much as others do, but I did my part. And in that time yeah.... shit went south. But how cool would it have been if the game I played all of the time had a way for me to reach out and talk, without anyone knowing, and maybe giving me a little light at the end of the tunnel. Obviously it takes courage for people to do it, but it's there for those ready to talk. Then there's someone on the other end of that message string looking out for me and maybe giving me referrals to a place in my area where I could talk to someone and get help. Plant a seed for me to help myself. That could be life changing, and the opportunity to change lives within this game is unbelievable because it can be a huge part of someone's life.

To be honest, this is just a random thought I had while laying in bed 45 minutes ago. It's obviously just the beginning of an idea, but it may spark more and more ideas from all of you readers, and the more the merrier. I want this game to last, it's fantastic. But I also want the players within the game to last.