Dr. Eric Geffner's Individual Outpatient Gambling Treatment Program

Please use caution and good judgment regarding any list of therapists as some may not be fully qualified, or adequately trained, to provide treatment.  While some of the links below provide lists of therapists who claim to work with gamblers, I only make referrals to a few treatment provides that I fully trust.  I can not, and do not, endorse any treatment provider unless I specifically and personally mention their name to you. 

I strongly suggest finding someone who has one of the following advanced degrees:

    MD who is an active state licensed and board certified Psychiatrist.
    PhD who is a State Licensed Clinical Psychologist (some Ph.D.'s are not in Clinical
    Psychology).  In California you can check the status of a Psychologist by going to the following web site:   www.psychboard.ca.gov.
    State Licensed MFT (marriage and family therapists)
    LCSW (Licensed Clinical social workers).  In California you can check the status of a MFT or LCSW license at the following web site: www.bbs.ca.gov.
    There are many good counselors who hold a CAADAC degree.  A CAADAC therapist has specialized training in addictions and often themselves recovering addicts or gamblers, this organization is not state licensed so there is less control over their activities in terms of ethical behavior.  Their training in recognizing and treating mental illness is limited to addictions only and not other problems like depression or anxiety.  It is important to check that they are good standing with the CAADAC organization.

You probably will want to start with the California Office on Problem gambling link:

http://problemgambling.securespsites.com/ccpgwebsite/default.aspx

If no therapist is available in your area, consider finding an chemical addiction specialist who has one of the above mentioned degrees.  Take the time to insure that any prospective therapist holds a valid and current state license to practice therapy and not only a certificate.  It is also important also to ask about the extent of their training and work with gamblers.

There are a lot of people who are former gamblers that are available to work with gamblers who want recovery.  They can easily be found in the Gambler's Anonymous program of recovery.  They often have experience and expertise that is beyond what a therapist (myself included!) can offer due to their own process of healing and living a life based on being grounded in the 12 steps.  I strongly encourage people to attend GA and ask someone to be their sponsor.  A sponsor will work intensively with the gambler, guiding them into recovery and working the 12-step program.  I think that if a gambler would like help from a non-state licensed therapist this is the best way to go about doing it.

Therapy NEVER involves dual-relationships.  A dual relationship occurs when the therapist becomes something other than just a therapist, like a friend, romantic partner, business partner, etc.  These situations are dangerous and not therapeutic.

www.gamblersanonymous.org  This is perhaps the most important web site, it contains further information about compulsive gambling, a complete directory of meetings in your area (click on the link that says phone numbers it is a bit confusing), a link to Gam-anon, a site for family members, and a copy of the GA-20 questions, which is a very good assessment tool.  There is an online GA meeting at http://cghub.homestead.com/pst.html  this is an excellent way to connect to the GA program if you have trouble finding a local meeting to attend.

There are several programs that will allow you to block any computer from accessing any gambling websites, these are a good tool for people who are gambling from a home computer, you can find them using google

www.calproblemgambling.org  This is the website for the California Council on problem gambling (CCPG).  CCPG is a wonderful organization that is involved in prevention, education and care for the problem gambler and their family.  Partially funded by the California State lottery, CCPG maintains a 24-hour hipline (1-800-Gambler) that is staffed by professional counselors to help problem gamblers. 

This very important organization, at their website you can purchase books on the topic of problem gambling, sign up for classes on gambling addiction, and view a list of therapists.  For a small fee you can join this organization and receive their newsletter.  If you have benefited at all from CCPG please consider joining them, they need all the support possible.

www.ncpgambling.org For help outside of California this is a helpful website for locating qualified therapists who are certified to treat problem gambling and has a link to most of the state councils. 

http://800gambler.org  This is the link to the New Jersey council on problem gambling, it contains a lot of useful information and links for treatment.

www.responsiblegambling.org  An informative site with many articles on problem gambling.

www.femalegamblers.info

This is a wonderful person's website, I strongly suggest you take a peak at her site, it is dedicated to helping women problems gamblers. 

Safe Harbor:

This is an online site that features support and chat features where gamblers can help each other with the inital phases of recovery, hopefully people using this will think of it as supplimentary to live in person GA meetings.

http://www.sfcghub.com/

GAMBLOCK

http://www.gamblock.com/index.html

This is a for profit company that I am not affiliated with. They provide an internet blocking program that will prevent a computer from accessing gambling sites. They have been around for many years and offer strong customer support.

yahoo groups: 

http://groups.yahoo.com  This link, if it works, should take you to a list of 20 different groups to discuss and get online help for gambling problems.  You might need to search for groups by using the keyword gambling addiction.  I would suggest being selective in the groups you join and consider the GA related groups first...

Here is a helpful guide for family members producted in Canada

http://www.problemgambling.ca/EN/Documents/Guide for Families 2006.pdf