West Virginia’s Drawback Playing Well being Community (WVPGHN), in partnership with the Nationwide Council on Drawback Playing (NCPG), has been regularly serving to to boost consciousness of drawback playing throughout the state. For greater than 20 years, March has been nationally acknowledged as Drawback Playing Consciousness Month, a marketing campaign looking for to spotlight the indicators and dangers related to drawback playing.
The entity answerable for fielding calls from inside West Virginia will host two occasions throughout March and April, aiming to deal with extreme playing inside the state and attain out to as many affected gamblers as attainable.
Sheila Moran, a nationally licensed playing counselor and Director of Advertising and marketing and Communications at WVPGHN, commented on the difficulty of drawback playing throughout the states and in West Virginia, highlighting the gravity of the issue. The professional cited a research launched some 20 years in the past, revealing that 1% of the US inhabitants struggled with drawback playing, whereas 2% to three% met the factors for at-risk playing. With the enlargement of playing throughout all states, together with West Virginia, nonetheless, the issue should have been exacerbated, in accordance with Mrs. Moran.
Her assertion is consistent with the figures printed in WVPGHN’s Annual Report for State Fiscal 12 months 2023, indicating a rise in helpline callers beneath the age of 35. Whereas ten years in the past, helpline callers beneath age 35 accounted for 23% of the overall quantity of calls, in Fiscal 12 months 2023, this share rose to 39%. These, together with different statistics from the report level to playing turning into “a a lot greater drawback than we all know”, as famous by Sheila Moran.
WVPGHN Hosts the “Annual Mountain State Summit on Playing Habit” and the “Weekend Retreatment” Occasions
The primary occasion that the WVPGHN will host throughout Drawback Playing Consciousness Month is the Annual Mountain State Summit on Playing Habit at Northgate Enterprise Park in Charleston, scheduled for March 19, 2024. Whereas up to now the occasion was predominantly attended by playing dependancy professionals, now it’s open to neighborhood members as nicely, who will have the ability to attend it freed from cost.
The occasion’s program will heart on a documentary known as “This Is Not Monetary Recommendation”, devoted to cryptocurrencies and highlighting their relation to playing. Moreover, there might be a presentation themed round playing and social media and their influence on the younger technology.
The second occasion is “Weekend Retreatment”, which might be held within the Japanese Panhandle of West Virginia and is scheduled from April 19 to 21. Attendance might be free to neighborhood members. As Moran famous, the occasion might be an awesome alternative for these affected by playing “to bond over this and actually get some intense therapy and fellowship.”
Sheila Moran additionally touched upon the topic of shame being usually related to playing. As a substitute of being ashamed of their drawback, affected people needs to be reaching out for assist. Moran concluded by highlighting that this was the first purpose of Drawback Playing Consciousness Month, to boost consciousness that drawback playing was a ”actual dysfunction” that wanted skilled therapy.
