THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON PROBLEM GAMBLING’S

ANNUAL CONFERENCE

by Jim Wuelfing, Director of Prevention and Recovery,

The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling

It’s that time of year!  Later this week, four members of the Massachusetts Council’s staff will be heading for Milwaukee, Wisconsin to attend and present at 26^th National Conference on Problem Gambling. The largest and oldest conference on problem gambling in the world, the conference brings together leaders in prevention, education and treatment to learn from one another and to reconnect with valued colleagues and meet new ones.  The Massachusetts Council hosted the national conference last year in Boston and while that was a wonderful and exciting experience, I am looking forward to attending the conference in someone else’s back yard!

We have worked very hard at the Council to offer innovative and successful programs as well as to tackle some of the more difficult issues of the day in the problem gambling field.  This is evidenced by the fact that the Council staff will be presenting eight times at this year’s conference! These include the following sessions:

• Talk the Talk and Walk the Walk – a look at supporting recovery and addressing relapse among Council staffs
• Problem Gambling Provisions When a State Proposes Gambling Expansion
• Designing Effective Prevention of Problem Gambling Programs
• One Step Ahead: Teen Leadership as a Prevention Model
• Financial Literacy Panel
• Post Treatment: How Do We Support Problem Gambler’s in Recovery
• Prevention Showcase: A New Teen Specific Website http://www.teensknowyourlimits.org/
• Prevention Showcase: Using Social Media in Addressing Problem Gambling

I am also looking forward to attending a number of sessions including with Mark Vander Linden from the Iowa Department of Public Health on Taking a Survey of Gambling Attitudes and Behaviors as well as one featuring recovering gamblers on The Positive Use of Personal Experience.  I am also looking forward to blogging after the event and talking about our experiences in Milwaukee and what we learned that we hope to bring back to Massachusetts!

 # # #