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Certification Training & CEU Modules for Treatment Providers

24/7, Confidential, and Multilingual Problem Gambling HelpLine: 888-ADMIT-IT

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An important role of the FCCG is the continued training of treatment providers, mental health workers, clinical social workers and marriage and family therapists throughout the state. This has been accomplished through multiple webinars, online training modules and outreach activities conducted to promote the FCCG’s programs and services to diverse audiences throughout the state of Florida.

[IMAGE] Certification Training & CEU Modules for Treatment Providers

As background, to better aid Floridians in need of assistance for a gambling problem, the FCCG joined forces with the Florida Certification Board in 2007 to establish a credential package for compulsive gambling counselors in the state of Florida. The Advisory Committee convened for the first time that year, and subsequently completed a Role Delineation Study, as well as a validation survey as means of determining the core competencies and requirements for field professionals. The Florida Certification Board’s process for state credentials for gambling addiction certification was completed in 2008.  Over a decade later, the Certified Gambling Addiction Counselor (CGAC) Credential remains an available certification for mental health providers seeking to provide problem gambling counseling services in Florida.

The FCCG only refers help seekers (problem gamblers and other affected individuals) to licensed, mental health treatment providers who are Certified in Gambling Addiction. Acceptable certifications include either Florida’s Certified Gambling Addiction Counselor credential, (CGAC), or the International Gambling Counseling Certification Board’s (IGCCB) ICGC-II. 

The FCCG currently provides the required 60-hour certification training for licensed mental health professionals (state and nationally approved) and furnishes fifteen (15) additional free continuing education online modules (see details below) for mental health and addiction professionals (credentialed by the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling and The Florida Certification Board, respectively), psychologists (credentialed by the Florida Board of Psychology), and medical doctors (credentialed by the Florida Board of Medicine). In addition, the FCCG assists treatment professionals in securing professional oversight to meet the supervisory requirements with a Board-Approved Clinical Consultant (BACC) for obtaining the Certified Compulsive Gambling Counselor credential by The Florida Certification Board. Want to request enrollment in one or more of these modules? Contact the 888-ADMIT-IT HelpLine today!

FCCG’s Online Clinical Training & Educational Modules

  1. 60-Hour Certification Training – This module contains the foundational educational components that a mental health treatment provider must obtain to begin the process towards state or national certification to treat gambling addiction. Please visit the Florida Certification Board’s website for more information on the state’s certification.
     
  2. Best Practices in Managing Suicide-Risk in Patients with Gambling Disorder – This module discusses the prevalence of suicide risk often encountered by mental health providers in working with problem gambling populations. Specific assessment tools and prevention strategies are discussed by the presenter, along with therapeutic suggestions and interventions to use during treatment.
     
  3. Bridging the Gap between Substance use Disorders and Gambling Addiction – This is a training module for mental health professionals to learn more about co-morbidity and effective treatment modalities for clients dually addicted with drugs and/or alcohol and gambling disorder.
     
  4. Differentiating Recreational Gambling from Addiction – This training module explains the progression of gambling from a form of casual entertainment all the way to a clinically identifiable pattern of addictive behavior. The presenter provides viewers with examples of tools for assessment and problem gambling behavior identification for use in a variety of clinical settings.
     
  5. Gambling Disorder:  Assessment, Awareness & Application in the Criminal Justice System This is a training course about the link between gambling addiction and crime, geared towards treatment professionals in legal environments (i.e. jails, courts, etc.) to learn how to assess, diagnose, and refer clients that may exhibit signs of a gambling disorder. 
     
  6. Mindfulness and Problem Gambling – This training module explores the use of clinical mindfulness skills in effectively working with unique issues encountered in problem gambling specific treatment. Throughout this course participants are guided through a sequence of content, including theory, discussion from content experts in mindfulness research, and a guided meditation experience.
     
  7. Technological Impacts on Gambling – A training module for mental health and addiction service providers to learn how technology has impacted the problem gambling field (i.e. ease in access of gambling opportunities due to mobile phones, laptops, etc.) and application of resulting appropriate therapeutic strategies. 
     
  8. A Chance for Change: Gambling Addiction & Older Adults – Senior Service Provider Module This training module offers a comprehensive approach for elder service providers to use to address common situations that seniors encounter.  It offers viable approaches to prevention, assessment, intervention, treatment, and outreach, as well as recreational options, resource referrals, and population specific programs. This module is currently not accepting new enrollments. Subscribe to FCCG emails for updates about this and other continuing education courses.
     
  9. Understanding Youth Gambling: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly  The landscape of gambling continues to dramatically change across the U.S. With increased social acceptability, technological advances, legislative changes, and the possibility for increased sports wagering there remains a concern about young people’s gambling involvement. Traditionally viewed as an adult activity, adolescents continue to be engaged in multiple forms of regulated and unregulated forms of gambling. Is this a problem? In this training, Dr. Derevensky will provide a brief historical perspective of our knowledge of youth gambling, the risk factors associated with adolescent problem gambling, prevention strategies, and address current issues of concern.
     
  10. Loot Box RNG: A Case Exploration of Video Game Gambling  This training module is designed to aid gambling addiction counselors and mental health professionals in understanding the similarities in the play experience now often found throughout online compatible video games and RNG-based gambling. The session will provide a case example, along with an explanation of concepts which are critical for explaining the experience of both gambling and video games, and will highlight elements of each, which increase the risk for an addiction-like level of engagement from the player.
     
  11. Understanding Military Culture and Treatment for Disordered Gambling in the Military and with Veterans  The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that as many as 56,000 active duty members of the Armed Forces meet criteria for gambling disorder, and studies have shown that veterans have elevated rates of gambling problems–at least twice the rate of the general adult population. This training module will assist mental health professionals understand the uniqueness of military culture to assist in treatment of active duty military, veterans or family members with problem or disordered gambling. Rates of disordered gambling are much higher for veterans and active duty military.
     
  12. Teaching Optimism in a Reality Based World  Rational thought and reality testing are powerful tools of recovery for intervening on the fantasy thinking that happens with gambling disorder. Positive thinking and optimism also have a significant role in the recovery process. In this training module, participants will learn about the psychological and physiological benefits of optimism, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) skills to improve optimistic thinking, and to integrate realism and healthy optimism interventions into treatment goals.
     
  13. Ethics and Finances: When to Return Control of Money to the Gambler  Research and professional training are replete with clinical practice and gamblers relinquishing control of finances. Less attention has been given to when it is clinically appropriate for a family to return control of finances to gamblers, which this training will discuss. Many gamblers have no apparent financial management problems prior to advancement of their addiction, therefore return of financial control should be considered during recovery. There are several factors to consider and checkpoints in treatment that inform this important component of recovery. Gamblers resuming control of finances should be guided by ongoing DSM 5 diagnosis and assessment and progress in family counseling.
     
  14. The Relationship Between Trauma and Disordered Gambling  This presentation describes the types of trauma and delineates the ways traumatic experience may lead to the addiction of disordered gambling. The presenter describes both adult onset trauma and developmental trauma and the relationship to problem gambling with information drawn from recent and historical studies in Australia, the United Kingdom, and United States. He further discusses treatment for trauma as integral to recovery from disordered gambling and to avoid replacement addiction. The presentation includes anecdotal descriptions of work with clients and discussion about challenges for the future.
     
  15. The Soul Behind the High: Finding Beauty Even in Brokenness of Grief and Loss Grief and loss affect every human being, including mental health professionals. Many persons experiencing problem gambling and gambling disorders also have experiences of loss, including complicated grief experiences which are often difficult to heal and this training module will discuss. Problem gamblers frequently are escaping grief and loss experiences by escaping through gambling.  There is a “soul behind the high of gambling,” and mental health professionals can use this training to help gamblers and loved ones to “find the beauty, even in their brokenness of grief and loss,” as they heal and manage their gambling recovery plans.
     
  16. Treatment of Gambling Disorder & Common Comorbidities  Gambling disorder is frequently associated with other co-occurring mental and physical health problems. This training module will discuss these common comorbidities, how the clinical and cognitive presentation of gambling disorder differs based on comorbidities, and treatment approaches to gambling and these common problems.

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