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Gambling Counselor Advocates Harm Reduction

"In keynote remarks at the University of Missouri-Kansas City that focused on older adult compulsive gamblers, the Baltimore-based advocate of the emerging and controversial `harm reduction' school of treatment told about 100 local counselors and others in the audience that some older gambling addicts probably shouldn't quit.

""…[She said,] "Abstinence is appropriate for many types of folks, but it is not for all. Sometimes the most help we can be is to help them manage their time, their money and their feelings, rather than try to remove things from their lives.

"`One of the saddest things I ever heard from a client was that her trips to the casino were the only place she ever went where people would talk to her one-on-one.'

"In such cases, Franklin said, the challenge for counselors is to help the person find acceptable and enjoyable alternatives to gambling.

"…Franklin said the majority of gambling counselors resist harm reduction techniques because so many of them come from the ranks of drug and alcohol addiction counselors who have seen too many failures with controlled drinking therapy methods…"

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