Pre-Conference Workshops Program

Pre-Conference Workshop Abstracts

An Introduction to Problem Gambling

Don Feeney; Gregory Below; Jeff Hudson; Katie Richard

Attendees will learn the basics of problem gambling, emphasizing material that will help them better understand the concepts and terminology they will be exposed to at the National Conference on Gambling Addiction & Responsible Gambling 2023. Topics will include what happens in treatment, what helplines do, and what resources are available, along with the basics of what is known about problem gambling, including causes and prevalence, and an explanation of commonly used problem gambling and responsible gambling terms.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand the basic concepts relating to problem gambling.
  • Explore the topics attendees will be exposed to at the National Conference on Gambling Addiction & Responsible Gambling 2023.
Designing Meaningful Outcome Frameworks to Evaluate Safer Gambling Strategies

Jess Voll; Lindsay Kalbfleisch

An evaluative lens is integral to how organizations design programs and services to support positive individual, community, and population-level impacts. Developing an outcome framework for safer gambling programs or initiatives can guide the assessment of what works, benchmark outcomes relative to other organizations/jurisdictions, and identify opportunities to course-correct closer to real-time to achieve desired impacts. This session will take participants through the process of engaging stakeholders with relevant evidence, an activities inventory, and strategic planning tools and documents to identify meaningful outcomes that can be measured to strengthen safer gambling programs and initiatives.

Learning Objectives:

  • Increase awareness of tools and strategies to support stakeholder engagement, evaluation, and evidence-based practice.
  • Strengthen the identification of meaningful program and policy outcomes to assess the impact and support continuous improvement.
Gambling & Suicide: Who, Why, and What to Do

Jeremiah Weinstock, PhD

Approximately 46,000 Americans died by suicide in 2020, equivalent to one person every 11 minutes. Unfortunately, individuals with gambling problems are at an increased risk for suicide ideation, suicidal attempts, and completion. About a third of callers to the gambling helpline reported suicidal ideation within the past year, and approximately 11% reported recent suicidal ideation. This training aims to examine suicide, its risk factors, and clinical practice within the context of individuals with gambling disorder.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe important risk factors associated with suicide in the context of gambling disorder.
  • Identify risk assessment and safety planning methods to help reduce the likelihood of suicide.
Gambling in the Lives of Veterans: Clinical Case Discussions

Heather Chapman, PhD, ICGC-II, BACCMaggie Hyland, ICGC-II; Kasey Jones, ICGC-II

One of the most powerful ways to advance gambling treatment skills is via case presentation and discussion. This workshop aims to present a series of cases built on strong case conceptualization, guided by the clinician’s theoretical orientation that provides a framework to condense and synthesize multiple pieces of information into a well-developed narrative. The goal is to identify not only the precipitating cause(s) of the client’s gambling behavior but also internal and external forces that maintain the problems, ultimately linking them to a plan of care. These presentations will integrate the impact of veteran and military culture.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand some of the theoretical models in the treatment of gambling disorder.
  • Recognize the importance of integrating a client’s biopsychosocialspiritual life into gambling care.
Gambling Treatment Diversion Courts

Michelle Malkin, PhD, JD; Karen Russo

This workshop will provide participants with details on why Gambling Treatment Diversion Courts are currently starting throughout the U.S., the steps people interested in establishing new GTDCs should take, research-based best practices to consider for inclusion in the programs, and an overall blueprint for these programs. Participants will go through a checklist on whether their state/jurisdiction is ready to take on this initiative or the steps they need to take to prepare them to start these courts.

Learning Objectives:

  • Explore the importance of diversion programs, including a checklist of who should be eligible.
  • Understand the steps necessary to develop a treatment diversion court.
Introduction to CADCA’s Problem Gambling Boot Camp Part I

Dorothy Chaney, MEd

Participants will learn about the essential science of effective prevention and discuss how the public health approach, health equity and community coalitions are the heart of community problem-solving.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand how CADCA’s Model for Community Change establishes partnerships with diverse populations to achieve community-level change.
  • Identify how coalitions use the public health approach and the Strategic Prevention Framework to develop data-driven comprehensive plans to improve community health.
Introduction to CADCA’s Problem Gambling Boot Camp Part II

Dorothy Chaney, MEd

The session will provide an overview of CADCA’s model for community change and walk participants through the essential steps to develop a data-driven comprehensive plan to address local problems.

Learning Objectives:

  • Gain a basic understanding of the essential elements of conducting a community assessment.
  • Explore how to map strategies to local conditions.
Links Between Crime and Gambling Addiction: UK Lived Experience Research

Sarah Ramanauskas

The UK Commission on Crime and Gambling-related Harm has been working since 2019 to increase awareness and understanding of the links between crime and gambling addiction. It has supported several lived-experience research projects, usually including peer researchers, to surface the individual’s voice. It has uncovered important stories about how gambling addiction can drive crime and how the individual has to cope with a criminal justice system that has little understanding of gambling addiction and very little ability to support those in the system. This presentation tells some of those stories and gives recommendations for change.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify how gamblers may be harmed further by their experience of the criminal justice system.
  • Understand how women and members of minority communities are misunderstood and mistreated in the CJS.