by Jim Milligan 

Gambling has been around for a long time, and different groups of people have developed varied responses to it. For some it is a moral issue, and gamblers are seen as sinners or moral reprobates. For others, it is a form of entertainment, and gamblers are seen as hedonists. Some people believe that gambling is a waste of time and money, and so gamblers are seen as spendthrifts or good-for-nothings. Some people see gambling as ruled by gangsters, and that all gamblers somehow get tainted because gambling is seen as outside of the law.

This is as true for the counsellor who is going to work with a problem gambler as it is for the general population. Counsellors do not work in a vacuum. They bring into the counselling relationship a mixture of expectations, attitudes, beliefs, biases, thoughts and feelings about gambling and gamblers. Sometimes counsellors will be conscious of this mix and sometimes they won't.

In their daily lives, people make judgments all the time. The judgments are, in fact, decisions about how to act in a given situation. These judgments are made based on the information that is being taken in through their five senses and through their intuition. The information can be blatant or subtle, and consequently, the judgments can be blatant or subtle as well. Sometimes the judgments are habitual and out of a person’s awareness. If one had to stop and think about every action she was going to take, she would be immobilized. In the counselling session, the counsellor cannot afford to be immobilized. The way to become conscious of our values and beliefs, and their possible impact on our view of our clients, is through a deliberate process of examining our value system.

When they are in training, the majority of counsellors are taught that they must be non-judgmental in their approach to clients. I believe this is a recipe for disaster. We are all biased and judgmental. However, we do not have to behave in a biased or judgmental way. By becoming aware of our biases and judgments and bringing them into consciousness, we can choose to act in a conscious and intentional manner.

An integral part of the training of addiction counsellors has been values clarification about drugs, including alcohol, and more recently, nicotine. Public awareness campaigns and public information materials have been developed, in part, to help the general population clarify its beliefs. However, in an area as new as problem gambling is, there have been very few, if any, prevention efforts. As a result, many of these long-held beliefs about gambling and gamblers have remained unexplored.

In an effort to help counsellors be more aware of their values, we have developed some reflection questions, which might help you, the reader, get in touch with some of your beliefs. The list of questions is not exhaustive. It does, however, address five basic areas: questions about gambling, about your relationship to money and what it means to you, about luck, about winning and about losing.

How to use the questions is a simple, but not necessarily easy, process:

1. First, pick a time and a place where you will not be interrupted;
2. Second, read one section at a time. Try to get in touch with your thoughts, your feelings and your behaviours related to the question. Some of the questions will take you back to an earlier time in your life. Others will focus on the present. Try and remain open to whatever images come to you;
3. Third, record the images in some way. This could be through paper and pencil, or through creating symbolic representation with markers, crayons, collage or any other medium that is comfortable for you. Remember that the images are for you alone, unless you decide to share them with a trusted other;
4. Fourth, once you have recorded the images, move to a more cognitive analysis. Were there any surprises? Any challenges? Any “ahas”?
5. Fifth, attempt to make the connection between your responses and your counselling relationship. Ask yourself the following question: “How does what I have remembered/learned about myself relate to my counselling experience with a problem gambler?” “Are there things I will have to be conscious of when doing my counselling?”
6. Finally, make a plan of action about how to stay conscious of your newly explored values.

The questions follow.

Gambling:

• What gambling do you do?
• When did you start?
• How did you learn about gambling?
• Who taught you?
• Why do you gamble?
• How often?

Money:

• Where did you first learn about money?
• Did you have an allowance? Was it fixed or fluid? Who gave you the money? Who did you go to when the money ran out?
• What meaning does money have for you? What does it represent? Is it connected to your sense of personal power? Esteem? Prestige? Success? Safety? Security? • What meaning did money have in your family of origin?
• How do you feel about borrowing money? Do you ever not repay a debt? Why? Why not?
• What values do you have around work? Why do you do it? How do you feel about people who don’t work? Who spend their days in bingo halls? Or casinos? Or at the racetrack?
• What does financial security look like for you?

Luck:

• Are you a lucky person? How do you know?
• Are some people luckier than others?
• What happens to you when your luck runs out?
• Do you have a lucky number? A lucky sweater? A lucky colour?
• What do you mean when you wish someone “Good Luck!”
• Is luck limited, or is there enough to go around?
• Do you try to manipulate luck? By crossing your fingers? By wishing on the candles of a birthday cake? By walking around ladders or black cats?
• When you buy a lottery ticket, do you always play the same numbers? How did you choose them? Do you ever not play your favourite numbers? Why not?
• Do you ever buy quick picks? Do you have a better chance of winning if you pick your own numbers instead of having the computer pick them for you?

Winning:

• How do you feel when you hear about someone winning the lottery? A large stuffed toy at a carnival? A trip? A new car?
• What do you do with your Publishers’ Clearing House sweepstakes mailing? Do you buy unwanted magazines in the hope of having Ed McMahon show up at your door with balloons and champagne?

Losing:

• How do you feel when you lose?
• How do you feel when you see other people lose a lot of money?
• How would you feel if someone else called bingo just before you?

There may be other questions that come to mind. Use these questions as a springboard to further explore your values and beliefs. In addition to the work you do on your own, this exploration may also be pursued within the context of clinical supervision and/or consultation with peers. The more you explore, the better counsellor you will become. You will be able to be more fully present to your client, to listen more attentively, to remain objective and clear, and not buy into the client’s story. Once you have integrated the process for yourself, the questions can also be used to help the clients get in touch with their values and beliefs.