On-Demand Course

at your pace and convenience.

This course is approved for 2 continuing education (CE) hours. To earn CE hours, you will need to complete 1) all required course activities and 2) the course evaluation survey. A certificate of attendance will be made available on the Student Dashboard upon course completion.

Who Should Attend

This course is recommended for:

  • family therapists, art therapists, mental health counselors, social workers, psychologists, and other mental health clinicians,

  • problem gambling treatment providers,

  • problem gambling treatment supervisors,

  • Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselors (CADC),

  • Certified Gambling Addiction Counselors, and

  • prevention specialists.

What Is Included

This on-demand, online training covers basic information about the neuroscience of gambling and problem gambling treatment.

The course includes three modules. Videos featuring clinical skills, presentations, and readings are provided within the modules. You are free to take as much time as you need to review these resources. Once you have reviewed and mastered the content of a module, you will be required to pass a short quiz before proceeding to a new module. You must pass all of the quizzes before you are eligible for verification that you have successfully completed the course.

We suggest you take your time, view content as many times as you like, and access suggested readings and resources when possible. It is not necessary to complete the course in a single sitting. You are free to open and close the course as many times as you like. 

This course includes videos of experienced mental health clinicians and actors portraying clients based on scripts from real sessions. This provides authenticity while protecting client privacy. 

We ask you to have an open attitude as you go through this course. At times it may seem as if we are reviewing what you already know. However, paying close attention is likely to provide an opportunity to realize subtle differences and important nuances in problem gambling treatment and supervision. Finally, we hope you enjoy this learning format and that this course supports your many contributions to counselors, clients, and agencies.

Free Preview

Video Featuring Clinical Skills

Course Curriculum

    1. Welcome!

    2. How to navigate this course

    3. Course Overview

    4. Course Objectives

    5. Introduction to Gambling and the Brain

    6. Overview of Gambling and the Brain: Read Only

    7. Dopamine and the Brain's Reward System

    8. Quiz 1: Gambling and the Brain

    1. Video: Mark Douglass, MA, LPC, CDAC III, CGAC II Talks About How Gambling Affects the Brain's Reward System

    2. Required Reading: NCRG Monograph on Gambling and the Brain

    3. Check out the Brain Connections Website for More Information!

    4. Before we continue...

    5. Your Professional Background

    1. In-Session Psychoeducation on Gambling and the Brain

    2. Video: In-Session Psychoeducation on Gambling and the Brain

    3. Handouts for Clients on Gambling and the Brain

    4. Online Resource for Clients

    5. Quiz: 2: Gambling and the Brain

    6. Before we wrap up...

    7. Course Evalution

About this course

  • Free
  • 20 lessons
  • 0.5 hours of video content

Instructor

Senior Instructor Teresa McDowell

Teresa McDowell, Ed.D., LMFT is a professor emerita at Lewis & Clark, in Portland, Oregon, where she served as Department Chair and co-founded Lewis & Clark’s Problem Gambling Services. Dr. McDowell has served as a licensed marriage and family therapist, family therapy educator, program director, educational administrator, and consultant over the past 40 years. Her work has primarily focused on counselor education and workforce development, organizational consultation, international family therapy, equity-based clinical practice, integrated treatment for problem gambling, and clinical supervision. She currently serves as a social researcher, program evaluator, and consultant with Partners in Social Research and is the senior instructor for the Advanced Career Online Resource Network (ACORN). Dr. McDowell has published over 50 refereed journal articles and book chapters. She has presented her work at numerous conferences across eight countries. She is the author of Applying Critical Social Theory to Family Therapy Practice and first co-author of Socioculturally Attuned Family Therapy: Guidelines for Equity-Based Theory and Practice (1st and 2nd Editions). Her work in problem gambling treatment includes authoring the Working with Families in Problem Gambling Treatment handbook, research on core competencies for problem gambling counselors and prevention specialists, and extensive contributions to the development of Oregon’s problem gambling treatment workforce.

Pricing

This course is free of charge, courtesy of Oregon Health Authority Problem Gambling Services

ACORN

is committed to excellence.

ACORN has been approved by the International Gambling Counselor Certification Board (IGCCB) and the Mental Health & Addiction Certification Board of Oregon (MHACBO) to provide continuing education courses. Additionally, ACORN has been approved by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7274. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. ACORN is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

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