Pre-Conference Series: Advocacy

By Sasha C. Russell, M.A., Program Specialist, Communications, The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling

 

Tomorrow, the Mass Council is hosting the 2013 Massachusetts Conference on Gambling Problems: Working Together to Create New Pathways for Success. As mentioned the last two weeks, the goal of the conference is to explore the collective responsibilities and efforts made to create pathways to educate, provide services, and advocate on behalf of people experiencing problems with gambling, their family members and the community.

For the final installment of the Pre-Conference Blog Series, we will take a look at the advocacy pathway. Executive Director, Marlene Warner, MA, heads the Council’s advocacy efforts and at Friday’s conference she will lead both the morning and afternoon sessionsabout advocacy for problem gambling services in Massachusetts.

The morning session, Massachusetts Partnership on Responsible Gambling Group: Advocacy for Responsible Gambling, will focus discussion about the advantage the Mass Council’s neutral stance on legalized gambling has on creating partnerships with those in the gambling industry. Being for nor against legalize gambling allows for engagement with industry stakeholders to ensure a collective responsibility of problem gambling in the Commonwealth. The Massachusetts Partnership on Responsible Gambling Group (MPRG) was coordinated to account for said collective responsibility, along with, responsible gambling policies, and community accountability. Discussion will introduce the vision and work of the MPRG. (Check out our press release on the partnership here: http://tiny.cc/npu1vw)

Current members of the MPRG include:

· Mohegan Sun Massachusetts

· The Massachusetts State Lottery

· Caesar’s Resort at Suffolk Downs

· Plainridge Racecourse

The afternoon session, Gambling Expansion: New Opportunities in Advocacy, will focus discussion on new opportunities in advocacy while living in an era of gambling expansion. Gambling disorders are interconnected to various social issues, including: addiction, public health, mental health, and criminal justice, among others. This workshop will focus on basic advocacy skills, new opportunities in advocacy and action steps that can be taken.

We are excited for the conference tomorrow and encourage those unable to attend to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for live updates as we take the day to explore the ways that we, “work together to create new pathways for success.”

 

Pre-Conference Blog Series: Prevention & Recovery

by Jim Wuelfing, Prevention & Recovery Consultant, The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling

For week two of our Pre-Conference Blog Series, Council Consultant, Jim Wuelfing, fills us in on what to expect during both the Prevention and Recovery discussion panels.

The 2013 Massachusetts Conference on Gambling Problems: Working Together to Create New Pathways for Success will take place on Friday, April 26^th, 2013 in Beverly, MA. The goal of the conference is to explore the collective responsibilities and efforts made to create pathways to educate, provide services, and advocate on behalf of people experiencing problems with gambling, their family members and the community.

The prevention of problem gambling, as is true of all prevention work, relies on community ownership and collaboration. The Council has and will continue to work with many different groups and localities by developing resources, building capacity and educating our citizens on issues pertaining to our mission of reducing the social, financial and emotional costs of problem gambling and to prepare for the expansion of gambling in many forms.

Our prevention presentation and panel, Innovations in the Prevention of Problem Gambling: Stacked Deck, Regional Prevention Meetings, College Athletes, will discuss the Council’s efforts to build regional coalitions among high school and college administrators, as well as, those who serve our elder population.  We will focus on efforts designed for these specific populations and we will hear from panelists, Dr. Robert Hynes, Director of Counseling at Fitchburg State University and Philip Kopel, the Council’s Research and Data Director who illustrate specific efforts on program development and data collection among high school and college student athletes.

The Council has recently and robustly increased our efforts in supporting those who have developed the condition of problem and pathological gambling as well as their families. The recovery-focused presentation and panel, Community Involvement in Supporting Recovery: Mental Health Peer Specialists, Recovery Centers and Recovery High Schools, will discuss the development of policies and rationale, collaboration with recovery supports, such as recovery centers and recovery high schools, and the newly instituted service of telephone recovery support.  We will hear from Athena Haddan, Director of Everyday Miracles, a recovery center in Worcester who will describe the kind of activities that happen at recovery centers and the collaborative efforts between the centers and the Council.

Finally, the Council has been part of a recent regional and national dialogue looking at building on the common ground for wellness, prevention, recovery, and resilient communities coming together. For when “I” is replaced by “we;” illness becomes wellness.

Next week we will discuss advocacy, and will be tweeting live from the conference. If you don’t already follow us on twitter, start today: MassCouncilCG.

If you are interested in attending The 2013 Massachusetts Conference on Gambling Problems: Working Together to Create New Pathways for Success, please Register Online Today!

Additional information about the conference below:

Date, Time & Location:

Friday, April 26, 2013
8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Endicott College, Wylie Inn and Conference Center, Beverly

Pricing:

$85 - full admission
$70 - MAPGS Holder
$25 – students

CEUs: 

Certificates have been applied for and are expected to be given to all participants who complete the full day: LADC I, LADC II, LADC Asst., CAC/CADAC, CAS, RN/LPN, NCC, SW, NCGC, LMHC.

Sponsors:

The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling, The Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, & AdCare Educational Institute, Inc.

For more information or to learn about sponsorship opportunities, please call the Council at 617-426-4554 or email Victor Ortiz: victor@masscompulsivegambling.org.

 

Pre-Conference Series: Treatment

by Sasha C. Russell, M.A., Program Specialist, Communications, The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling

On Friday, April 26^th, 2013 the Mass Council will be hosting the2013 Massachusetts Conference on Gambling Problems: Working Together to Create New Pathways for Success. The goal of the conference is to explore the collective responsibilities and efforts made to create pathways to educate, provide services, and advocate on behalf of people experiencing problems with gambling, their family members and the community.

Starting this week, and leading up to the conference, I will highlight a particular pathway. Pathways of the conference include: Treatment, Prevention and Recovery, and Advocacy. This week we are going to take a look at Treatment of problem gambling.

Treating problem gambling can be difficult for a myriad of reasons. In many cases, there are just not enough resources for a pathological gambler to get help. Recognizing this issue in Massachusetts, the Council, with the help of the Mass Department of Health (DPH), has been working hard to build treatment capacity. This effort, on behalf of the Council, is led by Council Intervention and Treatment Support Director, Victor Ortiz, MSW, LADC II, CADC II.

Council Consultant Arthur Friedman, Ph. D., LICSW, MA-PGS of Advanced Consulting Associates has worked with Victor to expand services in Western Mass. Arthur created a curriculum and partnered with Baxter Chandler, Director of Behavioral Health at Holyoke Medical Center, to train approximately 27 clinicians in Western Mass on problem gambling treatment. This is a huge milestone for the Commonwealth and a huge step forward in building capacity.

With this in mind, the morning panel of the Treatment Pathway for the Annual Conference, moderated by Victor, will be: Building Treatment Capacity: The Holyoke Treatment Model and the New DSM-V Criteria. Arthur and Baxter will join Executive Director of the River Valley Counseling Center, Anne Marie Martineau, in discussing the treatment model at Holyoke and the need for providers to increase their expertise and build treatment capacity to more effectively work with problem gamblers and their families.  Discussion will also include the impact that the upcoming DSM-V change in criteria will have with recommendations on how to approach pathological and problem gambling diagnoses in the future.

In another effort to help raise awareness and build capacity, the Council has held 9 regional collaborative meetings in the Commonwealth, this fiscal year, with more to come. The Council’s regional collaborative meetings are designed to establish a systematic approach to integrate problem gambling services with other social services, as well as build capacity in the different regions of Massachusetts. Baxter will be joining Director of Addiction and Criminal Justice Service at Gandara, Jaime Maldonado, MSW, LCSW, MA-PGS to discuss past meetings and plan future ones during the afternoon panel: Meeting the Challenges: Regional Collaborative Meetings.

The Commonwealth is in a unique position to take advantage of building capacity, and have open discussion about the future of problem gambling services, before the casinos are built. With this in mind, next week we’ll take a look at the importance of putting preventative measures in place, as well as the need to support those in recovery.

If you are interested in attending The 2013 Massachusetts Conference on Gambling Problems: Working Together to Create New Pathways for Success, please Register Online Today!

Additional information about the conference below:

Date, Time & Location:

Friday, April 26, 2013
8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Endicott College, Wylie Inn and Conference Center, Beverly

Pricing:

$85 - full admission
$70 - MAPGS Holder
$25 – students

CEUs: 

Certificates have been applied for and are expected to be given to all participants who complete the full day: LADC I, LADC II, LADC Asst., CAC/CADAC, CAS, RN/LPN, NCC, SW, NCGC, LMHC.

Sponsors:

The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling, The Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, & AdCare Educational Institute, Inc.

For more information or to learn about sponsorship opportunities, please call the Council at 617-426-4554 or email Victor Ortiz: victor@masscompulsivegambling.org.

 

 

Pathological Gambling: A Clinical Guide to Treatment

By Victor Ortiz, MSW, LADC II, CADC II, Intervention and Treatment Support Director, Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling













In an effort for Council staff members to continue educating ourselves on problem gambling, each member chose a book on the topic to read and review. This week’s review comes from the Council’s Intervention and Treatment Support Director, Victor Ortiz, MSW, LADC II, CADC II.

Victor chose the book: Pathological Gambling: A Clinical Guide to Treatment.

Pathological Gambling: A Clinical Guide to Treatment provides insight on the treatment of individuals with gambling disorders. The book provides a comprehensive version of various research done geared towards treatment considerations. It begins by exploring gambling disorders as a public health issue and the benefit of such perspective. The benefit of a public health perspective is that it is a multilayer approach allowing one to explore the association of social risk factor or behaviors with gambling, as well as, the interactions of these factors in an effort to understand gambling and its effects on individuals. 

The book evolves and concentrates on various perspectives and populations: older adults, young adults, gender differences, prevention, pharmacological treatments, and others. The evolvement of each chapter leads to treatment recommendations which are cognitive and behavioral treatment. For example, the cognitive approach is defined as any therapy that is based on the belief that our thoughts are directly connected to how we feel. The goal is to change the thoughts that impact feelings and behaviors. The book lends thoughts to utilizing the treatment recommendations in the development of future trainings in order to provide more practical treatment of gambling disorders.

I highly recommend this book as a must read for all clinicians working with or aspiring to work with pathological gamblers. The book provides a comprehensive perspective and understanding of treatment recommendations. One common and constant concern that I receive is how do I treat gamblers? This book is a great resource to help answer such a question.

Citation: Grant, M.D., M.P.H., Jon E., & Potenza, M.D., Ph.D., Marc N. (2004). Pathological gambling-A Clinical Guide to Treatment. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.