Establish a rapport that invites disclosure and motivates change. Shame, embarrassment or fear of disclosure may keep people who gamble from revealing the true nature of their problems. The challenge is to provide a safe and supportive environment that will facilitate disclosure in a manner that will allow you to address concerns and link people to appropriate help.
It is rarely helpful to ask directly “Are you having a problem with gambling?” Some clients may not have insight into how their problems are associated with gambling. For other clients, this blunt approach may lead to a defensive response and leave the client unwilling to explore the issue further.
Here are however, a number of ways you can ask gambling questions as a routine part of your assessment process.
• Ask about recreational activities: “What do you do for fun? Do you go to the movies, night clubs, or the racetracks?” “Do you ever go to casinos or other gambling venues?” When asking questions, assume that your client participates in some type of gambling: “How often do you buy lottery tickets? play the pokies? engage in sports betting? or internet gambling? Avoid moral judgments
• “How much time and money do you spend on these activities?” You may find it difficult to ask clients about how they spend their money if this is not what you usually do. Many Australians believe that it is rude to ask other people about money. You can assure your clients that problems with gambling are common and so you ask all people seeking your assistance about it
• If you identify gambling as a concern, ask about debts to employers, family, friends, co-workers, casinos, bookies or loan sharks. Ask if the clients superannuation or savings have been cashed in to cover gambling losses. This will let you know whether the client should consider financial counselling
• Consider using the brief gambling screens provided in this guide
• If you suspect that a client is having problems with gambling, keep relevant print information on gambling counselling in the client’s file and offer information at opportune times.
Problem Gambling Is A Family Problem
Consider including the client’s partner or family in the discussions, or arrange to meet with the family separately. Often family members are more willing to discuss the impact of gambling than the person who gambles. Your assessment of a client’s gambling problem may be based on what a family member tells you.
Many partners are unaware that gambling is a problem until there is a crisis. Clients may not want their partners to know everything that is going on. Try to balance the idea that secrecy enables gambling with the need to build trust and your responsibility to respect confidential information.
Emotions can run high
Discussing the family’s situation can be an agonising experience for the person who gambles and his or her partner. This may be the first time the client has acknowledged the full extent of his or her gambling losses. For his or her partner, there will likely be a resulting loss of trust and high levels of anger and frustration. This can be a challenge for the helping professional.
Take the time to provide information, support and encouragement so that both parties can feel more comfortable seeking counselling. This step can be taken with or without the person who gambles. When a family member seeks help, this often instills hope and clears a path for the person who gambles to take action. Children may also need help understanding that the problems in the family are not their fault. They may need to be encouraged to let go of that sense of responsibility.
Protect the family finances
Families may be willing to help by paying off the gambling debts. This approach is risky. With the money pressure off, the client may return to gambling knowing that if they get into trouble someone will bail them out. Helping professionals may encourage families to take steps to protect their assets from further loss with the help of a financial counsellor. The family may also need legal advice to help sort out which debts belong to the family (e.g. co- signed loans) and which belong to the person who gambles. Information on provincial legal services is included in the resource list.
Engaging the Client to seek help
When the client’s life has become unmanageable, it may be appropriate for the helping professional to become more active in finding solutions to the client’s problem. The challenge is to balance counsellor assistance with building client control and accountability.
Problem gambling experts have identified a number of counselling principles and best practices that are particularly effective in dealing with gambling problems and can complement your work as a helping professional.
Motivating client change
Helping to build motivation to change is an important aspect of counselling. People who gamble struggle with conflicting motivations. They may want to stop gambling, but may not want to give up the hope of the big win. They may still see gambling as a solution to their problems or fear the emptiness of life without it.
Motivational interviewing helps clients to recognise their problems with gambling – and do something about them. Through gentle exploration and presentation of facts, counsellors guide clients to their own conclusions. Motivational principles include express empathy, help the client see the consequences of gambling, avoid arguments, roll with resistance and support self-efficacy.
Express empathy
A respectful and compassionate approach helps to facilitate openness. “You must be feeling overwhelmed with all the challenges you are facing. How have you managed for so long?”
Through the interview process, acknowledge the challenges clients are facing and the efforts they have made to resolve their problems. Accept ambivalence towards change as normal.
Help the client see the consequences of gambling
Create a discrepancy between continued gambling and achieving important goals identified by the client, such as getting out of debt or improving family relations and health:
“I don’t understand. You’ve said you want to work on things at home, but you tell me you go out gambling every night.”
Use a non-judgmental tone when pointing out discrepancies. If clients feel attacked or confronted, they may withdraw or become defensive. Try to assume a “not knowing” stance.
Avoid Arguments
Arguments do not help and can lead to defensiveness:
- Provide information so that clients candraw their own conclusions and identifytheir own reasons for change
- If your approach isn’t working, change it
- labelling the client as a “problemgambler” is not helpful or necessary.roll with resistanceAccept the clients’ right to choose:“You may decide after our discussion that you would rather continue as you are. That is your choice. Should you wish to work on these problems, I am here to help.”Support Self-Efficacy
- Help clients identify their own solutions
- Tell clients that you believe that they can change, cope and overcome obstacles without gambling. Point out examples of success
- Match your intervention to the client’s stage of change
- lapses and relapses lapses and relapses: the person falls back into gambling behaviour. This may be a one off (lapse) or a return to previous levels of gambling (relapse).Relapse is often part of the recovery process and can help reinforce the client’s need to manage his or her gambling .The person has not maintained the change – “I had an extra fifty bucks and I felt lucky.” Work with clients to bring them back to maintenance stage. The client may be back at the first stage again or maybe having difficulties maintaining their actions. Lapses are often an opportunity to increase the clients awareness of potential strengths and weaknesses and strategies for maintaining change for the client. The client may be feeling ambivalent about change and may need to reinforce their actions. Recognise that lapses and relapses are a normal part of the changing process. Counselling can help the client identify his or her unique patterns and triggers and plan ways to reduce risk and increase control.(Adapted from the work of Prochaska and DiClemente, 1982)
- Self-Exclusion – All Australian gambling providers are required to provide customers with the option to self- exclude from the venue or products, this includes pubs, clubs, tabs and gambling websites such as SportsBet, TattsBet or Tattersalls. These arrangements vary by State and Territory. For anyone feeling that their gambling is becoming a problem this is a helpful tool to keep them safe and assist their recovery. This is a voluntary arrangement that the client can enter into with a particular venue or multiple venues / facilities. There are no costs in the process and the client chooses which venues, casinos or websites to be excluded from. There is a minimum time agreed upon, once this time expires the person can apply to have their gambling account re-opened and/or be able to enter the gambling venue/ area again. For further information refer to www.gamblinghelponline.org.au. third party and Involuntary exclusions. The concept of third party exclusion, allows families and friends (third party) of those experiencing problems with gambling the right to apply to have their relative or friend excluded from gambling venues to prevent an escalation of their gambling. While this exists in the Tasmania and South Australia, not every state or territory has this available. Casinos in most states can also apply involuntary bans on customers.
