Holy Family program offers gambling addiction treatment
As revenues at the new Rivers Casino in Des Plaines soar, so are the numbers of gambling addicts in the suburbs, according to health officials.
Just five miles from the casino up Des Plaines River Road, Holy Family Medical Center’s new gambling addiction treatment program also is thriving.
Compulsive gambling recovery recently was added to the hospital’s Keys to Recovery addiction rehabilitation program in response to a growing need in the community, said Ray Imig, patient intake counselor.
“It really increased within the last year due to all the online gambling,” Imig said. “Kids now are learning Texas Hold’em at a very young age.”
The Keys to Recovery program has been running for 26 years, but hospital officials started training counselors to recognize and treat gambling addiction only about three years ago when existing clients started talking about it, Imig said.
“About 15 percent of patients identified with gambling problems,” Imig said. “The gambling is a result of their problems, the problems are not a result of their gambling.”
Clients addicted to online betting, off-track betting and casino gambling are the types of cases counselors see most often, Imig said.
Aside from professional gamblers, the biggest increase in clientele is housewives who have never before gambled.
“Compulsive gambling is not about gambling,” Imig said. “It’s the adrenaline rush, the excitement.”
Gambling addiction often comes bundled with other addictions such as texting, smoking, alcohol or drug abuse. The same techniques are used to treat gambling addiction as with all other physiological addictions, Imig said.
The first step to getting treatment is recognizing the symptoms and getting assessed by certified counselors.
“We have two counselors who are certified in gambling,” Imig said, adding that counselors have to undergo at least five days of training, or 60 hours, and take a test to be certified for addiction counseling. “Ninety percent of people that make the appointment do come in.”
Holy Family has a 42-bed, inpatient addiction rehabilitation program that offers tailored treatment in groups of different sizes. While the beds are for clients undergoing serious detox, the hospital also provides outpatient treatment, 12-step programs, halfway houses, and sometimes refers clients to treatment programs out of state.
Many of the program’s counseling and nursing staff members have dealt with some form of addiction in their past, said Deb Ayanian, director of the rehabilitation program.
“People actually know what the clients are going through because they have gone through it themselves,” she said. “If you are a compulsive gambler, today it might be lottery, tomorrow it might be the casino, the next day it might be the horse track.”
With the expansion of video gambling, there will be plenty of gambling opportunities at every turn to entice the average person, Ayanian added.
“We really stress the importance of avoiding people, places and things, when you are sober,” Ayanian said. “It can be a part of the therapy that Rivers Casino is so close. As you build up tools, as you build up self-esteem and your self-confidence gets better, we can go down River Road and not worry about Rivers Casino there.”
5 signs of gambling addiction
ŸNegative consequences such as family, financial and job disruption
ŸLying about the extent of gambling
ŸPreoccupation with gambling
ŸUnsuccessful attempts to stop gambling
ŸChasing losses
<b>5 Dos and Donts to avoid gambling relapse</b>
ŸLocate Gambling Anonymous meetings in your area and attend regularly.
ŸIdentify triggers and temptations of gambling and avoid those activities.
ŸDevelop support contacts to call when feeling the urge to gamble; identify alternative activities to get through these urges.
ŸAvoid all gambling activities (even video games that do not include money or betting).
ŸBelieve taking it one day at a time can help avoid gambling activities for positive benefits.
Source: Holy Family Medical Center