Post 44

October:  Collaborations Continue!

Spotlight:  Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness Program

Our September GRM Blog post featured the First Responder Conference held on September 13 in Indianapolis.  As noted, this was - completely - a collaborative effort shared by State agencies, the United Methodist General Board of Church & Society, support groups, and Gambling Recovery Ministries.  The day was filled with information on recovery support for substance abuse and gambling problems.  A substantial amount of this event's programming could not have been coordinated without the instrumental assistance from the Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness Program. 

As I review the past several blog entries, memories come to mind of multiple blessings that have contributed to GRM's development through collaboration.  Over the years, problem gambling materials have been given, significant introductions made, and trainings continue to be shared and provided. 

So in the spirit of continuing collaboration, the October and November GRM Blog posts, respectively, will highlight our GRM friends in the problem-gambling-recovery-trenches: the Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness Program (IPGAP) and several State Councils/Associations on Problem Gambling.

From the IPGAP website, www.ipgap.indiana.edu , the Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness Program is to provide technical assistance for prevention, treatment, and co-occurring issues.  This program actually stemmed from the Prevention Resource Center at Indiana University, in 2005.  From its beginning, IPGAP has continued to share a plethora of information about problem gambling and associated recovery issues.  Moreover, practical and readily usable materials can be downloaded from IPGAP's site.  Then too, the program's Lending Library provides access to a variety of materials for programming and individual use.

To introduce you to IPGAP's outreach services, the following represent a sampling of materials you can obtain through their website.  Enjoy!

• Data & Research:  Reports, over the years, detailing survey results concerning Indiana Adolescents and Gambling, Adults and Gambling, and Older Adults and Gambling
•  Treatment Providers:  List of state-funded, certified gambling treatment providers throughout the State of Indiana
•  Gam-Block Information: Blocking access to gambling websites program information
• Environmental Strategies:  Approaches focusing on changing conditions in the shared social environment that contribute to or protect against gambling problems and consequences

• Materials

         Problem Gambling Tool Kit for Professionals:  screening, assessment, referral, and     

         treatment information 

        History of Gambling

         Glossary of Gambling Terms

         Military and Veterans Resource Information

         Professional Certification

         For Family and Friends of Problem Gamblers: Personal Financial Strategies for Loved   

         Ones of Problem Gamblers

         For the Gambler: Self Assessment Quiz & FAQ's on Problem Gambling

         Many Other Fact Sheets on Problem Gambling

 

IPGAP, also, provides tools for counselors to use within their work with problem gamblers:

Gambling Progression Chart; Counseling Log; Certification Tracking Form; Early Stage Couples Work Guide 

Online Presentations: Scoring the South Oaks Gambling Screen; Problem Gambling 101 

Special Populations Information: Youth; College Students; Older Adults 

Furthermore!!  All seven PowerPoints presented at the First Responder Conference are posted on the IPGAP website!   

Check out Gambling Recovery Ministries: A Faith-Based Approach under the "Special Populations/Faith-Based" page!  This PowerPoint, also, includes the Lunch Session PowerPoint on  Spiritual Issues of Problem Gamblers. 

One final note:  the Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness Program (IPGAP) is funded by a contract with the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Division of Mental Health and Addiction with funds through the Indiana Problem Gamblers' Assistance Fund. 

For more information on IPGAP, contact Mary Lay, IPGAP Project Manager, at maholtsc@indiana.edu  OR  Desiree Goetze, Assistant Project Manager, at dgoetze@indiana.edu 

OR call 1.800.346.3077 (in Indiana); otherwise call (812) 855-1237  

Blessings, 

Rev. Janet Jacobs

Gambling Recovery Ministries, Director

 

For more information on problem gambling and recovery issues, go to www.grmumc.org

 

        

Post 43

SEPTEMBER:  FIRST RESPONDER Conference!!

 

 

Once again, this Blog’s entry-event had its origins months ago!  Actually, late last year, I was searching the web for any church ministries or events having to do with problem gambling recovery.  Rarely, do I find this kind of reference (other than those about Gambling Recovery Ministries).  Eventually, I found a dated reference to a couple of training events in Kansas.  I decided to e-mail the Coordinator, Dr. Esther Maddux.  From that first e-mail, Dr. Maddux and I struck up a friendship and a working collaboration to create a training conference for Indiana clergy and other faith-based workers to be the very best “first responders” to persons affected by substance abuse and/or problem gambling.

 

This project became a working model for future collaborations involving the faith-based community, mental health agencies, and government sponsored prevention services.  Early on, we invited the Indiana Prevention Resource Center www.drugs.indiana.edu / Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness Program www.ipgap.indiana.edu leaders to join us to craft a conference that would include a broad spectrum of care for persons affected by addiction.

 

The results were terrific!  The one-day program was packed with information covering the topics of Prevention, Treatment, Recovery Supports, Co-Occurring Mental Health and Addiction Issues www.in.gov/fssa/dmha/index.htm , Spiritual Issues within the Dynamics of Addiction, Indiana’s Access to Recovery Program, Introduction to SBIRT, Back Pack Program, ASPIN (Certified Recovery Specialists), Gambling Recovery Ministries, and a Guest Speaker from Gamblers Anonymous.

 

The conference was sponsored by a grant from the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society www.umc-GBC.org .   Rev. Cynthia Abrams, Director of the Board’s Department of Alcohol, Other Addictions, and Health Care attended the conference and spoke on the topic of Advocacy. 

 

More good news!  Eighty-four persons registered for this continuing education event.  Attendees representing faith-based communities and local and state agencies travelled from across the State – and as far away as Oklahoma - to learn about addiction ministries!  

 

Blessings,

 

Rev. Janet Jacobs

Gambling Recovery Ministries, Director

 

 

If you have questions about initiating ministry to problem gamblers and their loved ones, visit www.grmumc.org 

 

Post 42

AUGUST: expansion!!

Like July’s entry, this month’s happening actually had its beginning months earlier.  In June, my daughter emailed me with a website of a ministry center that she found interesting.  She thought that I might want to check it out during our upcoming visit to San Diego.  Sure enough … it did look like a place that I would like to visit – and perhaps - see if there was any way that Gambling Recovery Ministries could lend a hand of help to the center’s outreach endeavors.

So I e-mailed the Director of Christ United Methodist Ministry Center www.christsd.com with a brief description of GRM and information that we would be in the area later in the summer.  Reverend Dr. Bill Jenkins replied graciously that he would welcome a visit from us.  So in early August – after the Seattle Conference – Ron and I went to see the Center and talk with Dr. Bill. We found a very large and handsome,  Spanish-architecture church building, freshly painted and neatly kept, with dozens of rooms converted into a wide variety of outreach offices and facilities. In addition, two worship centers serve as home to eight churches.  Our meeting was a wonderful time of discussing ministry and outreach!  In fact, I will call it a God-appointment.  All three of us saw a ministry need that could be filled by GRM … and an alignment with the Center’s mission statements.

I’ll let you hear from Dr. Bill himself as he writes about our meeting, in his weekly Pastorgraph, dated August 5, 2013.  ( www.christsd.com  )

“In another one of those ‘It must be a God thing’ event that doesn’t surprise me anymore, Janet, Ron and I believe the Holy Spirit brought us together. I am thrilled to let you know we are working out the details for Christ Ministry Center to become the West Coast headquarters for GRM.

We will set up a resource center for addicted gamblers, their loved ones, and professional counselors. This ministry aligns perfectly with our mission to minister (among others) to those in prison, (the captivity of compulsive gambling). Visit www.grmumc.org for more details about GRM.” 

 

 The story of collaboration continues!  Immediately after this visit, I e-mailed the California Council on Problem Gambling  www.calgambling.org and the California Office of Problem Gambling www.problemgambling.ca .  I requested a wide variety of self-help workbooks, brochures, and posters in three different languages.  Help came immediately in the form of cartons of free materials from both the Council and the Office!  Moreover, Council Director Robert Jacobson called and offered additional assistance in the form of program speakers, training opportunities, and further materials. We had a great conversation and I look forward to continued collaboration with the Council and the Office.

Back to Christ Ministry Center:  soon after the first cartons arrived, Dr. Bill surprised us with a tremendously large media cabinet, complete with lots of shelving, and even areas with see-through doors with more shelves beyond.  He had arranged to have the huge unit moved to a frequently used conference room (the “Evangel Room”) – and he had it placed in a most convenient-to-see-and-use spot in the large room.  Needless to say, the shelves are now filled with problem gambling recovery information!

Then too, another gift of collaboration arrived at Christ Ministry Center!  Project Turnabout www.projectturnabout.org  a nationally recognized residential treatment facility for substance abuse and compulsive gambling (Vanguard Center for Compulsive Gambling), in Granite Falls, MN, sent us a quantity of the booklet “Chemical Dependency & Pathological Gambling” to augment the materials in our new San Diego-based GRM Resource Center.  I have referred this booklet to people for years and have kept a good supply of them on our Indiana Center’s shelves.

To top it off, I created separate listings of Problem Gambling Certified Counselors in the San Diego and the GA/Gam-Anon Meetings within a 10 mile radius from the Center.  I was pleased to see a good number of both PG Certified Counselors and GA Meetings in the area.

We are off to an excellent start with our expanding nationwide outreach of Gambling Recovery Ministries.  Please, visit the Christ United Methodist Ministry Center website at www.christsd.com and see the multiple and varied means of outreach offered to urban San Diego by this incredibly, collaborative and caring set of ministries!

 

Blessings,

 

Rev. Janet Jacobs

Gambling Recovery Ministries, Director 

If you have questions or want to hear more about GRM’s forward expansion, please e-mail jjacobs@grmumc.org 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post 41                                                                                                                                                  
BLOGS … BLOGS … BLOGS!!!                                                                                                          

JULY, AUGUST, and SEPTEMBER                                                                                                   

GROWING THE CIRCLE OF CARE                                                                                                   

JULY:  from Indy to Seattle … and back (September)!!                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                             

Oh, my goodness … it’s October already!  The past three months have flown by, filled with exciting events and encounters! So, for now, I will play catch-up with the GRM Blog.  Each month’s Blog entry will focus on a special event or development during that particular time.  Interestingly, it seems that each entry connects, in a unique way, to the other months’ happenings! 

July’s Blog actually began last winter when my abstract to do a presentation, for the 2013 National Council on Problem Gambling Annual Conference in Seattle, was accepted.  I was invited to participate in the National Prevention Showcase – a special breakout session featuring a variety of presentations on prevention work across the country. 

“Completing the Circle of Care” was the title of Gambling Recovery Ministries’ ongoing project to collaborate with multiple entities and individuals for the purpose of extending outreach and care to all affected by problem gambling.  Specifically, the four sectors of the Care Circle were the following:  Treatment, Support Groups, Faith-Based, and a combined group of Research, Academics, Public Health, State Agencies, State and National Councils on Problem Gambling, and the Gaming Industry.

Within the presentation, I provided detailed listings of innovative ways how all four sectors could collaborate with each other – and thus contribute to the recoveries of problem gamblers and their loved ones.  Actually, a good number of these entries are tried and true GRM endeavors!  Indeed, it was an exciting way to explain the mission and ministry of Gambling Recovery Ministries!

Soon after the Conference, I was invited to provide a workshop for the INARMS Conference /MidCentral Conference on Problem Gambling in September, in Indianapolis.  I chose this topic but re-named the session “Growing the Circle of Care”.   Completing seemed too finite; but growing carries an expanding, beneficial dynamic that we strive for in helping others to gain recovery!

Below is a sampling of the innovative listings.  Have you ever tried these OR saw them in action?

·      TREATMENT PROVIDERS: Spirituality Assessment: Assess where clients are with regard to how important/significant they esteem spirituality will play a role in their recovery.  Utilize spirituality assessment tools.

·       GAMING INDUSTRY EMPLOYEES NEWSLETTERS:  Include State and National Problem Gambling Help lines as well as GA and Gam-Anon Hotlines and websites

·      TREATMENT PROFESSIONALS’ ENRICHMENT SESSIONS:  Collaborate with other mental health agencies to provide “Lunch & Learn” types of sessions with the focus on problem gambling and related recovery issues

·      GA/GAM-ANON WORKSHOPS:  Presented by GA and Gam-Anon members to counselors-in-training

·      FAITH BASED FACILITIES:  Provide a GA/Gam-Anon Corner wherein printed GA and Gam-Anon materials can be displayed and serve as handout information (especially helpful to locate this in the area where these Support Meetings are held).

For more information on these listings, e-mail jjacobs@grmumc.org .

One final – and very exciting note:  in September, the annual INARMS/Mid-Central Conference on Problem Gambling was held in Indianapolis … and was there a great turnout for persons attending the Problem Gambling Track of breakout sessions.  We even needed to move to a much larger room to accommodate the 50-60 plus in attendance! 

For one of these sessions, I presented a similar program to the one given in Seattle.  As I looked around the full room, I saw so many of the folks representing the various sectors of the Circle of Care with whom I had collaborated over the years.  Who better to describe the kinds of cooperative work experiences we had had together than these wonderful persons!  It was a great time of sharing and a special in-house demonstration of innovative and tailor-made collaborations!     

Blessings,

Rev. Janet Jacobs

Gambling Recovery Ministries, Director

 

Post 40

Pioneers and Frontiers     

We were invited and challenged to be “pioneers”.  It was an exciting event! 

The huge hotel ballroom was filled with professionals, anxious to hear about treatment for problem gambling.  I had driven 2 ½ hours to attend Ohio’s First Ever Annual Conference on Problem Gambling.  The keynote speaker, Loreen Rugle, Ph.D., excitedly exclaimed that, years before, a “conference” on problem gambling might be a handful of colleagues gathered around her office space.  Instead, this was 2003 … and a real crowd of therapists and social workers had gathered.

Gambling Recovery Ministries (GRM) was not quite two years old then … and the call to be a pioneer in the burgeoning field of problem gambling recovery rang true.  Even more so was the case for an outreach ministry - specific to problem gamblers and their loved ones!   Hand books, blue prints, instructions, how-to lists, and model programs could not be found.  Salvation Army did (and still does) minister to gamblers seeking recovery; but they, admirably, have a wide and wonderful range of other outreach endeavors, as well.

Pioneering was reality to us in GRM … and it still is.  There are expanses of territory to explore: building new collaborations, strengthening the connections we have … and always, providing help and hope to those affected by gambling addiction.

Then too, it’s rough to be on the frontier.  The American History lessons I used to teach were filled with challenges – to the mind, body, and spirit.  But it’s worth it!  

For this month’s GRM BLOG, I want to welcome you to the frontier …

the sewing seeds, boots-on-the-ground, boundary-expanding, and rewarding frontier ministry of outreach to problem gamblers and their loved ones.  

Below are the letters F-R-O-N-T-I-E-R, 
and you will see both the challenges and rewards with this kind of ministry.  

BUT REMEMBER:  IT IS TRANSFORMING and WORTH IT!

  
F

Frustrating:  When others are not able to catch your vision of making a difference in the lives of folks desperate to find help … when funding diminishes … when GA and Gam-Anon Meetings and certified counselors are few and far between

Fun:  When you try something out for the first time and it actually works.  Early on, the GRM Board invited GA members from Cincinnati to come and give a workshop on problem gambling recovery … it was a night of fantastic witness to recovery and we made new friends with the experts in recovery!

R

Relapse:  Recovery is rarely experienced as an upward straight line.  It’s tough to hear of relapse … it’s tough to see and hear unhappy and disappointed loved ones.

Rewarding:  To attend open celebrations of abstinence (“Pinnings”) and hear family members speak of having their parent/spouse back … that life is better now than ever before … that’s a reward with no $$ amount to it!

O

Online:  Online gambling poses an ever-present possibility of 24/7 gambling … and it’s spreading legally throughout our country … an especially, new challenge to face in terms of underage gambling

Online:  Online, there are now listed many services to problem gamblers and their loved ones … even online support groups … many people have learned about us through our www.grmumc.org website.  E-introducing others, in collaboration, is also a joy!

 

N

New:  When everything is new, nothing is routine.  New people to meet; new ways to reach out; new materials to create.  No more going on automatic!

New:   New doors open with new resources and new colleagues … and new opportunities to gain skills and knowledge to share, later, with others, who enter new in the field.

T

Tried and tired:  With few precedents, there’s much trial and error.  Overestimating, underestimating … a lot of energy is spent (and sometimes, not worth a second attempt).

Treasures:  There are “gold-nugget” people who will step out and take the risk to invest their support (time, effort, funding) in this new ministry field.  Partnering with them brings strength to our boundary-expanding kind of work.

I

Inward:  “Inward” thinking has the focus, we’ve never done that before ... so why would we want to do this?

Initiatives:  Help find people who – before - had been marginalized, ignored, or isolated.

E

Enough:  In a rapidly changing – and challenging – frontier ministry, there never seems to be enough … always building inventory, always on the edge of running out.

Enough:  God supplies (often, surprisingly) and there is enough – faith, that is!

R

Rugged:  When you’re climbing a mountain, and the twists and turns obscure the view, the final goal is hard to see.  Persistence and perseverance are called on … all the time.

Rare:  It’s a rare time in church history to be a part of creating (yes, we’re still in this phase) a ministry that is taking on a brand new outreach to an ever-growing number of persons around the world.  

The final good news is that the frontiers are still open!   

There is much to do … many people to meet … many to teach … and many to reach.

If you want to hear more about pioneering ministry to problem gamblers and their loved ones,
let us hear from you!

Blessings,

Rev. Janet Jacobs

Founding Director

Gambling Recovery Ministries

Post 39

 

Update: Indiana Senate Bill 528 Becomes Law:

 

 

what's included and what's omitted

 

On May 15, Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed into law legislation impacting the State's gambling industry.  Primarily, the new law's provisions carried financial implications affecting casinos and racinos.  Two exceptions are the accepting of limited mobile gaming systems at gambling facilities (see #1) and requiring the gaming commission to study the complimentary credit programs of gambling establishments (see #7).  Below is a listing of the legislation's components.

What's included:

1. Authorizes the use of limited mobile gaming systems at racetracks, satellite facilities, and in the gaming area of a riverboat casino or racino 
2. Allows gaming licensees to deduct adjusted gross receipts attributable to free play wagering
3. Provides that the total amount deducted by a licensee for free play may not exceed $2,500,000 in state fiscal year 2013 and $5,000,000 in state fiscal years 2014 through 2016
4. Provides that certain local development agreement reports must be made available through the Indiana transparency web site for local government
5. Provides that the lowest bracket of the wagering tax rate schedule for riverboats that had less than $75,000,000 of adjusted gross receipts during the preceding state fiscal year is 5% instead of 15%
6. Imposes an additional tax of $2,500,000 if the riverboats taxed under the alternative schedule recive adjusted gross receipts exceeding $75,000,000 in a particular state fiscal year
7. Requires the gaming commission to study the use of complimentary promotional credit programs
8. Repeals obsolete provisions concerning the riverboat admissions taxes formerly distributed to the horse racing commission.  Makes technical corrections.

Moreover, what was omitted from this new law is significant.

What's omitted:   
  

1. Live table games at the Shelbyville and Anderson racinos to be allowed
2. Expansion of gaming enterprises at off-site properties (on land) owned by the State's riverboat casinos.

For now, the physical (brick-and-mortar) expansion of Indiana casinos has been voted down.  Does this indicate the decline of Hoosier gambling?  Realistically, the answer is "No."  And ... where there is gambling, there will always be a number of persons affected by problem gambling.

For more information on hope and help for problem gamblers, here are some helpful web sites:

www.indianaproblemgambling.org                 Indiana Council on Problem Gambling 
www.ipgap.indiana.edu                                 Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness Program
www.ncpgambling.org                                  National Council on Problem Gambling
www.grmumc.org                                         Gambling Recovery Ministries

Blessings,

Rev. Janet Jacobs
Founding Director
Gambling Recovery Ministries 


 

Post 38

 

The Toledo Pledge: How Is It Going?

 

Just under the wire, here is my April edition of the GRM Website Blog.  Returning from vacation, I found that this computer was still on vacation!  As I was not so patiently awaiting its restoration of functioning, my husband reminded me that "There are just some things that take time."  Although I was not in much of a mood to see the realistic merits of his comment, my thoughts did remind me that, indeed, there are many elements of gambling recovery that do take time: time to do reading about compulsive gambling and recovery issues; time to attend GA and/or Gam-Anon Meetings; time to attend treatment sessions and do the suggested homework; and time to grow spiritually.  So Yes, this is the April edition - and as there is time in May, there will be a new Blog entry.

The above title asks about the "Toledo Pledge".  Earlier in the year, I came across news of a community initiative in Toledo.  With the recent advent of a casino in this city, various community leaders came together in a collaborative effort:  to watch for and be prepared to help persons with gambling problems to find recovery resources.  As I understand it, the effort was to promote awareness and preparation.  It's about identifying problem gambling and being ready to guide the person to those first steps toward recovery.

I have read two versions of this pledge.  Below, see both versions.

***  I will learn how to recognize the signs of a potential gambling problem, how to intervene with someone who has a problem, and what treatment options are available in our community. 
I will share this information with others and intervene when I recognize someone displaying the signs of problem gambling.  

***  We will show compassion and patience to those with a gambling problem and commit 
to assisting them with steps toward a gambling-free life.

To raise awareness about the Toledo Pledge - along with information about gambling addiction - educational initiatives were offered to community service organizations, companies, unions, and faith-based communities.
Moreover, it is reported that Lucas County Commissioners and the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board of Lucas County have participated in this project.

Several months have gone by since I read about the Toledo Pledge initiative.  Now, I ask for feedback.  How is this effort going?  What materials are being used and offered to the public?  Are speakers on problem gambling finding receptivity to their programs?  How about the proposed media and online campaigns?  How much exposure to awareness media is there for the folks in the Greater Toledo Area?

Give me your feedback, please, on this potentially promising endeavor.  I want to hear from you ...  and 
I would love to hear that other communities are creating and initiating such awareness campaigns!

Blessings,

Rev. Janet Jacobs
Founding Director
Gambling Recovery Ministries

For more information on problem gambling and recovery issues, visit www.grmumc.org