IT’S A GREAT TIME TO GIVE!

by Amanda Poggenburg, Program Specialist, The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling

We would like to challenge you to participate in an upcoming event hosted by the Giving Common. The event is The Giving Common Challenge, a 36 hour giving challenge beginning 8:00 a.m. on October 10^th, and ending at 8:00 pm on October 11^th.

The challenge will include the more than 500 non-profits that are a part of The Giving Common, a new resource for non-profits, communities, and donors / funders that was designed by The Boston Foundation in an effort to make charitable giving easier, faster, more organized and centralized.

 

The Giving Common is to non-profits as facebook is to individuals: a place where participants can all be listed, searched for, and explored. Each participating organization (which must be a certified 501(c)(3) non-profit) has the opportunity to create an in-depth profile to describe the organization and the work they do. Organizations are then searchable by issue area, location, and keywords. This makes it easier for people looking to donate to learn about charitable organizations. They can search through organizations and learn a little more about specific programs they could be contributing to.  In addition, for participating charitable organizations, The Giving Common makes it easier to submit grant applications to the Boston Foundation by pulling from information already included on the profile.

During the Challenge, all of the non-profit organizations that are a part of The Giving Common, including the Mass. Council on Compulsive Gambling, will be working together to raise money for our individual causes, while competing for prizes ranging from $1,000 to $25,000. The first 10 non-profits to get 50 donors receive a $1,000 prize and the organization that raises the most funds could win $25,000.

 The purpose of the Challenge is not only to raise money for the non-profits that are a part of The Giving Common, but to also raise awareness of The Giving Common. Ways to help us accomplish these goals are by telling others about the Challenge, posting on facebook or Twitter to let people know about the Challenge and how they can help, and checking out the Giving Common website for updates on our progress throughout the day.

 
Please consider helping us to raise both money and awareness for problem gambling by getting the word out and encouraging others to look for The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling on The Giving Common website at https://www.givingcommon.org/profile/1101854. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at amanda@masscompulsivegambling.org or call me at 617-426-4554.

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“Taking a Survey of Gambling Attitudes and Behaviors from Paper to Practice”

by Jim Wuelfing, Prevention and Recovery Support Services Director
The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling

This summer, I was at the annual conference of the National Council on Problem Gambling.  Members of the Mass. Council staff presented numerous time and we attended many sessions as well. 

I’m sure many of you have had the experience of going to a really nice session but didn’t get enough practical information to put the experience to much good use once you got back to the office.  One presentation, “Taking a Survey of Gambling Attitudes and Behaviors from Paper to Practice” by Mark Vander Linden of the Iowa Department of Health was entertaining, interesting, insightful and practical.

Mark’s presentation was about an attitude and experience survey administered in Iowa in 2011.  The primary purpose of the survey was to collect data from adult Iowans about types and frequency of gambling activities, prevalence of problem gambling and awareness and opinions of publically-funded gambling treatment services. 1700 Iowans participated in the survey.

To take a step back, one of the sessions I presented at the conference was in developing prevention programs.  I advocated the use of SAMHSA’s strategic planning framework where one of the first steps is to obtain useful data.  We certainly follow that framework when planning prevention activities here at the Council, but we often finding ourselves wishing for more data, especially more local (state specific data).  With the use of a process like the one in Iowa, we might find ourselves doing less wishing and more analyzing of practical local data.

To look at a couple of examples, the Iowa data showed that a large majority of residents (81%) never or seldom gamble and less that 1% gamble very often.  Mr. Vander Linden made the point that such information would be extremely valuable in social norms education.  Those that do gamble very often would see that they do not gamble in a way that was the norm.  One would also need to be sure not to alienate a large percentage of the population by always putting forward a problem gambling message.  One might be better served by congratulating folks who gamble without negative consequence and give risk reduction messages to help them stay that way.

Another piece of the Iowa data that I found interesting with potential practical use was the fact that 10% of those surveyed reported that an important reason they gamble is to win money to pay bills or use gambling as a distraction from everyday problems.  While 10% may not seem like a high number, it may be when you consider that these reasons to gamble are both significant risk factors for developing a more serious gambling problem.  In our prevention work, we seek to help gamblers who are not experiencing any negative consequences from their gambling to continue to gamble that way as well as helping gamblers who are experiencing some negative consequence to reverse that trend or not to progress further into negative consequences.  This kind of data would help in selecting more effective strategies and messages.

Of course, this is not local data.  But the session did encourage the Council staff to continue to seek additional state specific data.  Be looking for a survey coming your way!

Responsible Gaming Education Week, 7/30/2012-8/3/2012

by Kate Mowles, Communications Intern

This week the American Gaming Association (AGA) is hosting Responsible Gaming Education Week (RGEW). In response, the Mass. Council will be working alongside the National Center for Responsible Gambling to help spread awareness about problem gambling. Throughout the week we will be sharing some of our favorite facts & myths about problem gambling via twitter using #RGEW.

Responsible Gaming Education week has been held annually since 1998 by AGA to promote responsible gaming within the industry. It also helps to raise awareness of problem gambling. A lot of the focus from AGA has been on training casino employees on “underage and disordered gambling.” (AGA) We applaud the American Gaming Association for hosting the week.

At the Mass. Council, our mission is to reduce the social, financial, and emotional costs of problem gambling, and to promote a continuum of prevention and intervention strategies including: information and public awareness, community education and professional training, advocacy and referral services for problem gamblers, their loved ones and the greater community. RGEW provides a venue for us to work more closely with the national campaign to raise public awareness of the issues people face with gambling.

Have a favorite fact or myth about gambling? Tweet it at us or tag it with #RGEW. Make sure to follow @MassCouncilCG on twitter so you can see all of the facts we send out and share them with your followers!

For more information on Responsible Gaming Education week, check out the AGA site here: http://bit.ly/MpV3IO

The Council Welcomes Kate

Greetings! My name is Kate and I am an AmeriCorps Fellow working with the Council for the summer. My job is to raise public awareness through social media. So essentially, my job is to do what I do anyways! (I have two blogs of my own, I tweet regularly, and I consider Facebook the ultimate tool for keeping in touch with family and friends scattered across the globe).

So here’s a brief introduction as to who I am:

I am a rising senior at Babson College, located in beautiful Wellesley, Massachusetts. I have a passion for connecting with people, especially from different cultures. This passion has taken me all over the world. In the past year I’ve travelled to London, South Africa, South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong (quite the amazing adventure, you can read more about it on my travel blog: http://www.kmowles.blogspot.com/ ). I also love helping people. Pretty much everything I do is either community service or travel related…or both.

Already I have learned a great deal about the issues surrounding problem gambling. For instance, did you know that the prevalence rate of problem gambling in the United States is around 1-2%? Now, especially considering how big of a deal everyone made about the 1% during the Occupy Movement, this doesn’t seem all that high. That is, until you consider that number alongside other disorders:

·         Opioid use disorder (oxycontin, morphine): 1.4%

·         Cocaine use disorder: 2.8%

·         Amphetamine use disorder (methamphetamine, etc): 2%

·         Anti-social personality disorder: 3.6%

·         Obsessive-compulsive disorder: 1.6%

·         Schizophrenic disorder: 0.6%

·         Anorexia nervosa: 0.6%

·         Bulimia nervosa: 1%

So you’re telling me that more people have gambling disorders than schizophrenia or anorexia, combined? Exactly. But people don’t realize this. And that is exactly why the Mass. Council on Compulsive Gambling exists, and why I will be working on increasing the effectiveness and reach of the Council’s social media platforms.

I would love to hear from you. You can reach me at kate@masscompulsivegambling.org or 617-426-4554 with any feedback or questions : )



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!

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Using "Zentangles" in Recovery

by Amanda Poggenburg, Program Specialist, Prevention & Recovery
The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling

Zentangles. Some of you may be wondering what on earth that means. Zentangles can mean a great many things, depending on why you use them. They can be used to help relieve stress, increase hand / eye coordination, help you relax and focus, decorate your walls or desk, but they can also be used to help in your recovery. Before I get into how Zentangles can be used to assist in recovery, perhaps I should explain what they are. Zentangles are a way to increase focus, creativity, and sense of self. They are a way of making beautiful drawings by using repetitive patterns.

To draw a Zentangle, you start with a blank square of paper or cardstock. I prefer cardstock because it’s heavier and the ink from my pens and markers is less likely to bleed through. This is called a tile. It can be any size you like, but I always start with 3.5 x 3.5 inches.

Draw four dots in each corner of the tile and connect them any way you like, whether it’s with a straight line or wavy. I generally use Sharpie pens or ultra fine tip markers. The pens create a clean line, but the markers will sometimes blur, so watch out for that when choosing what to use. After creating your square, you “string” the square, meaning to draw lines throughout the square. I suggest starting with a “Z” across the tile. You can string the tile however you like, or not string the tile if that’s what you wish. After stringing the tile, you can choose a common tangle or create your own.

Then draw the tangle in one of the sections created by the string. Once you choose a tangle, use this to complete the section. After drawing Zentangles for a while, you w ill discover some favorite tangles that you might use in most of your drawings. After completing one section, you then move onto the others, using a different pattern for each section. When I first began drawing Zentangles, I used the basic “Z” string on a plain square tile and drew tangles with a basic black pen, but now I create my own tiles using colored cardstock and I use a variety of colors in my drawings, and sometimes I string my tile with loops and curves. I discovered how to express myself better the more I drew, and I can easily interpret my drawings.

The theory behind Zentangles is that anything is possible one stroke at a time. When you first see a Zentangle, you might think that it looks complicated and elaborate. You might think that you couldn’t possibly do something like this, but once you find out how it is done, through steps and simple designs, you’ll realize that what you thought was impossible is now actually quite possible. Zentangles teach ways of thinking, through drawing, that can then be applied to any life experience. When you see something that looks difficult or impossible, apply the theory of Zentangles and you’ll see that anything is possible, one stroke at a time, one step at a time.

Other things taught through drawing Zentangles are the use of deliberate strokes that contribute to the pattern, deliberate focus, not using an eraser, and not planning for how you want the picture to turn out. The purpose behind these methods is to apply them to life situations. Life does not have an eraser, so neither will Zentangles. If you make what might seem like a mistake, you can turn it into something else completely, create a new pattern and take a different direction. Focusing solely on what you are drawing and not planning an outcome lets your mind enter a meditative state, letting you draw without stress and without effort. Making deliberate strokes means that no matter how small a line you draw, it will always affect the pattern. In life, everything you do will affect your life’s pattern, and even someone else’s.

Zentangles can be used for a great many things, but for the purpose of this blog, I will focus on using Zentangles for your recovery. There are numerous techniques used in recovery, and I hope I am presenting one more that will be helpful. Meditation and journaling are two recovery techniques that are offered through Zentangles. The repetitive patterns let your mind focus and as you are drawing, you might find yourself thinking on certain issues and the more you draw, you will find yourself resolving some of these issues, or coming to see them in a different light. Looking back at your finished tiles, you might be able to see what you were thinking or what you concluded in the patterns drawn. This is the journaling aspect of Zentangles. After I finish a tile, I like to write on the back of the tile what I was thinking, what I concluded when I finished, or, if I didn’t actually conclude anything, things that I thought of that could help me resolve the issue. When I lead groups in drawing Zentangles, I also ask everyone in the group to write their thoughts and / or conclusions.

Sometimes drawing Zentangles is not even a matter of drawing to get your thoughts in order, but a matter of drawing to center yourself, to let go of stress, to increase your self-esteem. This is another way Zentangles can assist in recovery. Drawing something beautiful helps increase confidence and self-esteem. When I drew my first Zentangle, I was surprised at how beautiful it was. Of course it wasn’t beautiful in the typical sense, but as an abstract form of art, I was quite impressed. I never thought that I could draw well, and this suited my sense of order through repetitive actions and allowed me to discover something artistic in myself that I never expected. I now use Zentangles when I’m stressed, when I can’t go to sleep, when I am looking for inspiration, to help me focus and concentrate, or even just to relax and create something.

I would like to hear from anyone who has tried, whether it was before or after this blog, to draw Zentangles. Has it helped in your recovery? What do you use Zentangles for? If you would like to share, I would love to see your Zentangles.  You can email me at amanda@masscompulsivegambling.org.

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"Change Your Gambling. Change Your Life"

by Ryan Martin, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Health Education and Promotion, East Carolina University

During my time as the Thomas N. Cummings Research Fellow at the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling and Division on Addictions (Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School), I was afforded the opportunity to work with mentor and friend, Howard Shaffer, on a self-help book written to facilitate behavior change among people with gambling problems. Dr. Shaffer, associate professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and director of the Division on Addiction, is a pioneer in the field of disordered gambling.

My co-authors (Dr. Shaffer, John Kleschinsky, & Liz Neporent) and I are proud and excited to announce that “Change your gambling – Change your life” was published this past March. In our book, we provide accessible, clinically proven strategies for individuals who are interested in changing their gambling behavior (as well as other mental health issues) on their own. 

We wrote “Change your gambling – Change your life” using a non-confrontational approach.  In our book, we attempt to motivate individuals who are ambivalent about changing their gambling (and other mental health issues) to make changes.  We provide the reader with opportunities to set goals and consider the priorities in their life.  After articulating goals, we help the reader consider the positive and negative implications of changing or not changing their behavior.  If the reader decides that the benefits of changing outweigh the barriers, we provide them with clinically proven strategies to change their gambling.  By changing their gambling, we hope other aspects of their life will improve - including finances, relationships and health.

One tenet of “Change your gambling - Change your life” is that self-help can be successful and is often the preferred treatment option for individuals with gambling problems.  Research indicates that while some people with gambling problems change via formal treatment and/or self-help groups (e.g., Gamblers Anonymous), many others change on their own.  We wrote “Change your gambling - Change your life” with those people in mind. 

In addition to the finding that many people change without formal treatment, research also indicates that individuals with gambling problems often have co-occurring mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety, or substance abuse.  We developed “Change your gambling. Change your life” to target gambling and co-occurring problems simultaneously.  Specific chapters in the text provide self-help tools for (1) gambling and mood, (2) gambling and anxiety, (3) gambling and impulse control, and (4) gambling and substance use.

Finally, we know that relapse is common among those trying to change their behavior.  As a result, we provide strategies to avoid relapses and how to react when a “slip-up” occurs.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and they are contemplating changing their behavior, please consider reading and using the change strategies provided in “Change your Gambling – Change your Life”.

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