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,

  • Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselors (CADCs),

  • Certified Gambling Addiction Counselors (CGACs),

  • problem gambling treatment providers,

  • problem gambling treatment supervisors, and

  • prevention specialists.

What Is Included

This online, on-demand training shows how to engage clients who are struggling with gambling, from the first phone call through the initial session. Treatment barriers, therapeutic relationship, and the use of motivational interviewing are explored. 

The course includes three modules. Immersive case studies, presentations, and readings are provided under each module. You are free to take as much time as you need to review these resources. Once you have reviewed and mastered the content of each module, you will be required to pass a short quiz before proceeding to the next 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.

Course Curriculum

    1. Welcome!

    2. How to navigate this course

    3. Course Overview

    4. Course Learning Objectives

    5. OHA Guide to Core Competencies for Problem Gambling Treatment Providers

    6. Initiating Treatment for Problem Gambling: The First Phone Call

    7. The First Phone Call Video

    8. Quiz 1

    9. Before we continue...

    10. Your Professional Background

    1. Motivational Interviewing

    2. Motivational Interviewing in Problem Gambling Counseling

    3. Quiz 2

    1. Enhancing Connection and Motivation in the First Session

    2. Enhancing Connection and Motivation in the First Session Video

    3. Quiz 3

    4. Before you go...

    5. Course Evaluation

About this course

  • Free
  • 18 lessons
  • 1 hour of video content

Instructors

Senior Instructor Rick Berman

Rick Berman, MA, LPC, CADC III, CGAC II specializes in integrated treatment of co-occurring mental health and addictive disorders. He trained and supervised addictions and mental health counselors for more than 20 years. In recent years his work focused more specifically on problem gambling. He has presented at national problem gambling conferences in Canada and the United States. He is the past coordinator of Lewis & Clark’s Problem Gambling Services and instructed Gambling Counselor Pre-Certification Courses for many years.

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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