February 16, 2025 • 30 mins
ALIA LUCAS IS A GAMBLING DISORDER PROGRAM SPECIALISTS WITH THE SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER, GAMBLING, AND EPIDEMIOLOGY PROGRAM WITHIN THE MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Light Up the D, a focus on what's
happening in our community from the people who make it happen.
Here's your host, iHeartMedia Detroit Market President Colleen Grat.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning and welcome to another episode of Light Up
the D. I'm your host, Colleen Grant, Thanks for joining
me today. Our guest today is Aliah Lucas. She is
the Gambling Disorder Program Specialist at the Michigan Department of
Health and Human Services. She has fourteen years of experience
in contract and program management and manages the implementation, development
(00:35):
and expansion of gambling disorder prevention and treatment services throughout
the state of Michigan. Speaking with us today about problem
gambling and gambling disorder. Please join me and welcoming Aliyah Lucas.
Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Aleiah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
So let's talk about gambling disorder.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
What is it?
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Gambling disorder is when individuals have taken their gambling beyond
recreational activity, when it's starting to impact other areas of
their lives. If they're finding themselves engaging more in gambling
as opposed to spending time with friends and loved ones,
spending time doing their favorite hobbies. If it's monopolizing more
(01:18):
and more time in their life, that's what it becomes
an issue worth concern.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
And how does it get to that point?
Speaker 4 (01:24):
It depends on the individual and a lot of times
it depends on the reason for gambling. So gambling is
always the symptom of what the concern or their issue is.
It's not necessarily that gambling is the problem. We think
about gambling, think about it the same way you would
think about substance use disorder, alcoholism.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Right.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Sometimes it's an escape, Sometimes it's a coping mechanism. Sometimes
it's a way to deal with trauma. That's oftentimes the
pathway too. But here recently, what we're becoming aware of
is the accessibility. The accessibility to gam is increasing, right,
So we're finding that individuals that have never thought about
gambling before, because they're inundated with commercials and ass they're
(02:10):
curious and they start engaging and because of the accessibility
and it's so easy, before you know it, you're finding
it as a pastime that might take more and more
of your time.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
So is it something that I mean, you go on
your phone and now you can go on to any
app and you can start to gamble and is it
something that you're finding Is you said more accessible, so
is it more pervasive and people who maybe weren't doing
it before in like different either age groups or genders
(02:41):
or anything like that that you've seen take place.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
I won't speak definitively in regards to like we were
saying individuals does never gambled before, because I don't have
any statistical information to support that. What I can tell
you is that we get costs with the helpline about
individuals that haven't engaged in gambling before and we're seeing
now that they're taking up the behavior. In regards to
individuals that have been gambling, of course, if it's something
(03:06):
that you already do and it's more accessible to you,
then that activity is going to be exacerbated in some
regards and you have to look at it in regards
to who it impacts. So we're kind of widening our
net as far as identifying our target audience. Before we're
looking at gamblers twenty one and over. Going to the
casinos not so much because you can be eighteen and
(03:29):
on your phone. You can be sixteen and sneaking and
you know, putting in the information that gives you access,
although they're really.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Cracking down on that. Now we have to be mindful.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Of the availability, who's engaging and how do we reach
that audience to make sure they're aware of what gambling
disorder is, how to recognize the science and how to
get help.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
How can one of us recognize the science, just the
average person.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
So the easiest way is what we call the live
Bett survey. Two simple questions, Are you spending more money gambling?
And are you lying about how much time you're spending gambling?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Wow, real simple.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
If you're saying yes to either one of those, it's
highly probable that you're gambling is transitioning from recreation to
something that you might want to look about, look into
talking to someone about.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Is there a time frame over which a disorder like
that takes place or is it, like you know, it
can happen different different ways for different like how do
you end up with a gambling disorder?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Again, it's very individualized. And again, you end up with
a gambling disorder when you've engaged in the activity so
much to the point that it monopolizes the majority of
your life. When you find yourself preoccupied with the thoughts
of gambling, or when you're spending your time gambling chasing winds.
As we say, so you can win a lot of money,
(04:52):
but it's because you've had even greater losses. If you're
finding that you're spending more money than you've spent before.
If you're going gambling, let's say you go, you do
go to the casino.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
If you go.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Alone more often then you go with someone, that might
be a concern and for some it can take a
significant amount of time, for some not so much. There
has been instances I've heard of people winning really really
big the first time, right, thousands of dollars your first time.
(05:25):
You know, think about gambling having the impact on the brain, right,
like selfless choose disorder. Right, So once you give you
a high, exactly, once you activate the area of the
brain to that capacity initially, you're going to be looking
for that same sensation, that same feeling when you return
and do it again. So it depends on the individual.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
You and I have talked previously on the show, and
one of the things that I thought was really interesting
that you had indicated previously was when you're watching a
game and it's not really about the game anymore, but
like the point spread and who's what happened that triggers
a potential gambling when and it's not really just about
(06:05):
enjoying the game anymore. I thought that was such an
interesting insight. Can you share kind of like that again.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
You're right in that capacity because at that point, again,
gambling is the tool. Gambling is the tool, and we
were speaking of that. We're talking more so like along
the lines of sports betting, sure, where one may assume
that there's a level of skill or they believe that
it's a level of skill. And in those instances sports betting,
that is why not just youth and young adults, but
(06:34):
student athletes, they are at one of the highest risks
of falling subject to gambling disorder because in sports you're
we're not going to say risky personality, but you're all
about the skill. The chance is the odds anyway, So
that kind of makes increases your odds of being susceptible
to gambling disorder for youth, young adults, and for older adults.
(06:58):
So around March March is our problem gambling awareness month, right,
but we're also pushing it because it's also March Madness,
you know, so we're making sure we're having information available
with the individuals so they'll know the same things I'm
telling you. Now, watch how much you're gambling, Watch how
often you're gam gambling. Set of limit as far as
the amount of money that you're going to spend. If
(07:19):
you're going somewhere to gamble, take someone with you that
you guys can agree to leave at the same time.
That way, you're kind of limiting and restricting yourself and
your access. You're not overdoing it things like that.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So marches are gambling awareness months. It is, and you
have a symposium coming up, let's talk about that.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
It's our annual Gambling Disorder Symposium. It's on March sixth
the and Novaya at the Suburban Collection show Place. It's
a forum that we host every year. It's open to
the public and the purpose of the forum is to
provide information to the Michigan public about gambling disorder. So
if you have an issue with gambling disorder, family, friend,
(07:58):
love one, or if you work in the endustry and
you just want to know more information about it, this
is the event for you to attend. This year, we're
focusing on gambling in areas or underserved populations. That we
haven't previously delved into. So we have six different breakout sessions,
some great keynote speakers. But the topics that we're going
(08:19):
to be looking at this year, we're going to be
looking at gambling disorder and its impact or its correlation
to domestic violence.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Oh, how interesting. Absolutely, there is a correlation.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
There are studies that show that there are significant correlation
between intimate partner violence as well as the domestic violence
and gambling or the increase of violence of the household
when there's multiple familial gambling issues. So a portion of
the funding that we receive for our gamblingess order services
STAY wide is attributed to assisting with domestic violence as well.
(08:52):
So in that capacity, it's an opportunity for us to
bridge the gap, to create awareness and education and bring
awareness some more individuals that might be upon another population.
We might be missing because we're not sharing the information.
So we're looking at that. We're talking about the association
of gain, shame and guilt with gambling disorder, and we're
(09:13):
looking at the approach to treating casino workers versus non
casino workers. We're talking about gambling disorder.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
How much is gambling disorder pervac and casino workers. Isn't
at all.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
More than you would think, really and think about it.
That's you, that's your livelihood, that's the place that you
have to go right to work. So how do you
navigate that? How do you sustain your recovery? Are you
capable of continuing working that same capacity or you have
to do something different? And if so, as a clinician,
what does that clinician have to do out of the
(09:46):
ordinary or extra for that individual, then they will for
somebody that doesn't work in the casinos. Wow, So I
think that we haven't thought about before, you know, where
that's something I would think that a lot of casino
workers will probably be high risk for gambling disorder, or
if not gambling disorder, a very high propensity for gambling,
you know. So that's one of the things that we're
(10:07):
looking at. We're looking at So in the state of Nevada,
they've received some grant funding not too long ago where
they were able to start gambling disorder prevention curriculum with
student athletes in the high schools.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
So we're having.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
Someone come to talk to us from Nevada about what
they're doing in Nevada. Here in Michigan because again we're
trying to grow extend our reach to you, so that's
information we can use there. We're having our keynote speakers.
Doctor Harry Levant is an attorney. He is a clinician.
He is also a gambling disorder trained clinician. He's also
(10:41):
in recovery. As recently as December, he did testimony before
the Senate about the public health threat that sports betting
is and why it needs to be handled as a
public health threat, and he's going to be speaking to
us about that as an speaker. I am really excited
about that. I think it's time that more more people
are becoming aware of the significance of gambling disorder and
(11:05):
not just dismissing it as impulse control. Oh, you don't
have enough full power. You wouldn't tell me that if
I had diabetes, right, I wouldn't tell me that's makeup exactly,
just like you have to take maintenance medication to sustain
any other chronic illness, you know, gambling is that's same severity,
same level of severity, you know. So just making sure
(11:27):
that the Michigan public is aware there's going to be
an opportunity to attend an open GA meeting.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
What does that mean?
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Gambler's anonymous. I'm stic Gambler's anonymous. So there's going to
be an opportunity to attend an open Gambler's anonymous meeting
for those that may need one, or for those that
are in attendance. Because there is a variance, they're not
synonymous with alcoholics anonymous or or narcotics anonymous. There's caveats
(11:57):
because they're they're similar, but because financially linked, that's a
whole nother catalyst. So there's quite a bit of information
that's going to be shared at the simples im I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
If somebody's interested in attending, who should be attending and
how would they find out more information? And or do
they need to register give us all the details.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Anyone' that's interested state why that wants to attend is
able to do so. It's a forty five dollars registration
feeds an ad day event nine in the morning, five
in the afternoon. You will go to the website. The
link for the website can be found as CMHAM dot
org CMHAM Community Mental Health Association of Michigan. That'll org okay,
(12:42):
and if there's anyone that needs help with gambling. This order,
our total retelephone number is eight hundred two seven zero
seven one one seven.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Let's talk a little bit about you had said with
regard to the symposium under serve populations. Yes, can you
talk a little bit more about what is going to
take there for that community?
Speaker 4 (13:02):
So pretty much again, the platform is for awareness and education,
So what we're doing is bring it to the forefront
these undiserved areas that where you don't think individuals are gambling.
So like heading back to student athletes, casino workers, youth,
we have a workshop that's going to be looking at
(13:22):
not just gaming and gambling, but gaming, gambling and social media, misuse, Internet,
social media issues. It all ties in. So we're looking
at the younger demographic. And the reason they we're talking
about youth is because while they might might be gambling now,
a lot of children are gaming and there is a
(13:42):
close correlation between gaming and gambling. I believe we spoke
about this the last but let's talk a little.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Bit more about that because I think that's people need
to be aware of those red flags, right, things that
are taking place in their household that they may think
are innocent, right, you know, that they don't realize there's
a gateway there that taking place. Can you talk a
little bit more about that in case somebody hasn't heard
about that before.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
So, in a general premise, there's a lot of games
that children or young adults and youth engaging that allow
you to play so far and when you get to
a certain point, you've got to pay for skins, or
pay to get to the next level, war pay for coins.
So what does that do. It establishes the predisposition to
(14:24):
the pay for play concepts. So as you continue playing
games with that capacity and you get a little older
and you have a little opportunity.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
To put some money behind it, maybe maybe it's a sports.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Bedding game, right, you know, and you can put a
few dollars on it, and guess what, you're not looking
at it as gambling.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Because you're simply playing the game as you always have.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
But now there's a whole different concern. So there's a
need to bring awareness to that to adults, to parents,
to teachers, to community leaders that work with youth. It's important.
It's great that they're gonna allow the youth to spend
the past time playing games. Will just be observant. How
much time are they engaging? Is there opportunity?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Is there?
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Behaviors and attitudes changing when they don't engage. Same thing
I was saying about gambling. Are they preoccupy with gaming?
Do you have to make them stop? You might want
to pay a little more attention to that if that's
a concern that you have. While we can't enroll children
into treatment services, we can definitely provide services to the
(15:34):
parents that need helps with spartus getting the tools to
help their children.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
That is a great, great call out right there is
Maybe you're listening right now and you're thinking, oh, gosh,
I wonder if there might be an issue in my
household that the Michigan problem gambling. Your association, through the
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, provides preventative services.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Absolutely, can you.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Talk a little bit more about that.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
So in the state of Michigan, we have statewide so
there's ten prepay insurance health plans statewise. So on seven
of those ten regions, we have what's called a gambling
disorder Prevention Coordinator, and we have a gambling disorder Prevention
coordinator within the tribal regions of the state as well,
and their entire job is to assess need within their
(16:23):
region and I identify the tools necessary to provide the
most impactful informations, press promotion, and education. So we have
some regions in the state that are solely focusing on
youth and youth engagement and youth education. And we have
some regions in the state that are just working to
promote awareness in general, so although have their own respective
(16:44):
media campaigns. And then we have some regions that are
working on comorbidity. Let's go ahead and look at the
big picture. How highre is the percentage of comorbidity between
gambling disorder and other substance use disorders. There are some
regions that have I've added the gambling disorder survey as
part of their substance use disorder intake, so that you're
(17:06):
not missing an opportunity to potentially provide services to someone
that needs it, because if not, what then happens? We
may address the substance use this order and have to
address gambling at a later day. Right, So closing the
gap on missing those opportunities as well.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Wow, so interesting tell us Just so if somebody's listening
and they've said, well, that really that's exactly you know
what I need to do. I need to get more
information on the preventative services and education that you guys
are providing. Tell us the helpline again.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
So the helpline telephone number is one eight hundred and
two seven zero seven one one seven. There's also information
about the prevention services. There's a self assessment quiz on
the website at MDAHS dot gov or slash problem gambling.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Yeah, so maybe maybe you're wondering I wonder if I'm
heading down that wrong path that you can actually take
that assessment on the website.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
I also want to provide a little bit of information too,
in addition to what we do with the Michigan Department
of Health and Human Services. Everyone might not be ready
to take the step to actually go to treatment. Sometimes
it's just all you can do to take the steps
to mitigate harm. So you may have individuals that want
to take the first step and say, well, how about
(18:24):
I just don't go to the casinos or I just
don't get on the online platforms. The Michigan Gaming Control
Board has a website and they allow you to there's
information there where you can either go into the Michigan
Gaming Control Board the department in Detroit, Michigan. I'm sorry,
and ban yourself from the casinos, but you can also
(18:47):
ban yourselves from.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
All online gaming platforms.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
And they can find that at Michigan Game control Board.
That information is accessible on their website as far as
how they would complete the application to block themselves from
all online platforms as well, because sometimes that's the first step.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Right, is to try to prevent for your own self
your access.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
Now, if you determine that that's not enough, right, then
you can always come back. You call the help line
and get with a clinician that can take you the
rest of the way.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
So let's talk about that. Somebody calls the helpline, what
do they expect? What? What can they expect? All happen?
Speaker 4 (19:25):
So when you call the help line, you're going to
be created by a clinician that's specialty, specialty trained and
gambling disorder services. So first and foremost they're looking to
mitigate harm by addressing crisis. So if you're in a
crisis state when you call, that's the first level of
attention we're gonna.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
And what might a crisis state be?
Speaker 4 (19:46):
So we understand you might have just left the casino
at three o'clock in the morning and lost all of
your money. You might god it, but you might be
suicidal because we get those calls.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Off oh right, because you're like, what did I just do?
Speaker 4 (19:59):
I needed to be a understood that gambling has the
highest rate of intentional suicide out of any addictive activity
at all.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
So if you're.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
Calling us late at night, you just lost all of
your money, you don't know what you're gonna do. I
can't go home. We're first going to address your immediate
concern to try to get you to a place of
calm where you can further the conversation. Once we do that,
we're then able to just ask you a few questions
seventeen question survey that were asked in the conversational manner
(20:30):
just for us to gauge where you are. Your gambling
activity five affirmative answers indicates that you could benefit from
gamblingess order treatment services. So then we asked if you're interested.
If you're interested, we're going to connect with one of
our clinicians state wide, and then you have access to
twelve sessions of treatment services.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
WOW for free, for free free, twelve twelve free services
to help.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
You there's criteria for that, but yes, okay, yes, that's
what the services are for for those individuals.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
And here's what we do know.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
We know that in the recent years that there are
some insurance providers that actually provide benefits treatment services for
gambling disorder. So if you're one that comes through the helpline,
now you have health insurance that provides that service. We're
still able to connect you with one of our clinations
because many of our clinations participate with all insurance panels
as well.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Can you give us an idea of how gambling is
affecting people in Michigan right now? What are you seeing?
So we're doing this I said in the beginning fourteen
years what's going on?
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Right So we're in the process now. It's been a
bit of time since we've done a deep dive prevalence study.
So we've recently been fortunate enough to obtain additional funding
that allows us to support our research efforts so we
can get a new perspective on what gambling really looks
like in the state of Michigan. So we're talking post COVID,
we're talking in introduction of gaming and gambling to get
(21:54):
a true assessment of how many youth are gauging you know,
how many men are when are engaging or does that
look like as far as gambling activity. The last prevalence
study that we've done has spend quite some time and
the landscape has changed since that time. But what we
do gauges the information that we see annually through our
(22:16):
data reports, and what we see is that about well,
I'm gonna tell you Nationally, statistics show that about sixty
six percent of people that have substitutes order also gamble.
But what we're noticing through our helpline is that the
largest demographic of individuals that gamble are between the eighties
of twenty one and forty nine.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Kind of a widespread.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
I believe that that's still an underrepresentation because again those
are the only the people that call, and not everyone
shares their information. What we're learning is that again it's
maintenance care. There's not one shot and done. We have
people that have gone through our treatment programs too, maybe
even three times takes that. If it takes that, then
(23:02):
you come back and you get the treatment services that
you need. So we have an annual survey that we
do that we're looking to improve to give us a
little more information about how children engage in gambling activity.
So the survey is a two question of survey, and
(23:22):
we only ask if they gamble, how many times have
they gambled in the past three days? How many times
do they think they gambled in the last year. The
information is not definitive in regards to responses. So we're
going to take this opportunity to do another deep dive
with the statewide research to figure out what's going on,
(23:43):
and that information will then help guide our direction as
far as our programming. What it is that we need
to develop in strength And I'm already aware that we
need to make sure that there's better awareness and service
is available for the youth in what capacity? What does
that really look like When we talk about veterans and gambling,
I mentioned that earlier as being one of the underserved populations.
(24:04):
There's a higher rate of gambling amongst active duty military
and veterans and there are for the civilian public. Why
is that because of things such as PTSD. Then the
correlation between PTSD and gambling is coping mechanisms. Some time back,
the National Defense Act made it necessary to incorporate ALISA
(24:26):
in their annual survey questions about gambling because it's recognized
that even when you're away or deployed, gambling is a
highly engaged activity abroad. So when we think about it
in regards to a coping mechanism, stress PTSD, limited entertainment being,
(24:47):
you know, the stresses of being in those environments, and
then when you return home the stress of reactive acclimating
to home life and how things have changed. And you know,
it's a coping mechanism. So it's higher within the actability
and bedroom community than the civilian the civilian community, and
(25:07):
they're made of suicide is virals, so making sure we
provide information about that and making sure they're where the
services are available, and things of that nature kind of
some of the things that we're focusing on.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Let's talk about why it's important to talk about problem
gambling and gambling addiction and the stigma surrounding the conversations
that aren't happening.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
That's why it's important to have the conversation to eliminate
the stigma. Listen, gambling is a nationally accepted pastime. Right,
internationally accepted past I mean for most it's perfectly fine.
We are not anti gambling, right, enjoy the activity, have fun,
(25:51):
but be aware of the possibility of it being something
more than fun. And it's important to have that conversation,
so you know, so that you know, Okay, So what
is gambliness order? And does my activity fall in line
with possibly having gambliness order? How do I recognize that
in other people?
Speaker 3 (26:10):
You know?
Speaker 4 (26:10):
Does it really is it? Is it impose control or
is it more than that? Does it affect other areas
of my life? How does it affect me? How does
it affect the ones that I love? How do I
get help? It's important for that reason to have that conversation.
And it differs and depending on who it is, what
works for someone between the eighties of eighteen and twenty
one might not work for someone that's seventy or sixty.
(26:33):
And I say seventy and sixty because believe it or not,
seniors have a high risk for gambling as well. And
I want to mention that I don't think I mentioned that.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
I'm one of the things that we talk about and
we discussed when I say, well, I met our helpline
staff in our industry professionals, we have individuals that call
through the helpline that are seniors. You know, we think
about seniors that have lost their loved ones, may not
have children, or it may not be close to their children,
and they find themselves either living along and long term care.
(27:07):
It becomes a pastime, right, It becomes an entertainment and
if there's nothing else, it can be a constant source
of entertainment that you see is fun and you haven't
realized that it's transitioned even further than that. But what
happens with the senior community if you and I exhaust
our money gambling. We've got time, right, hopefully we have
(27:31):
time to recoup. So what do you do if you're
at later stages of life and you don't have that time.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
You're retired and you don't have a source of income.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Right, and you're exhausting your money and now you're gambling.
Could possibly impact with yourself your life in a way
that it compromises your ability to maintain. That's important to
have the conversation, especially when you think about not so
much now, not anywhere near as prevalent as it used
to be before. But there used to be a pastime
(28:01):
the bus, yeah, and take them to the casino right right?
In Great pastime that can transition into something other than that,
and now we're not addressed and gain, we're not recognized,
and we don't know what to do, and now they're
left to deal with it on their own. So I
want to make sure we make provisions for that demographic
have been dimended as well, making sure that we're aware
(28:23):
of how gambling impacts different people than how.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
So you you may be listening and you may think
I might have a gambling disorder issue that I need
to address, or you have a family member or a friend,
or might just get in how somebody can get help
and service.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
So again, our total free helpline one eight hundred two
seven zero seven one one seven. Our website is MDHHS
dot gov or we slash problem Gambling. Our helpline is
twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Anytime
you call, someone's gonna be available to give you the
(29:01):
help that you.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Need and remind us about the symposium again.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
The Sympolsion was on March the sixth. It's in the
Novas Suburban Show Collections Show Place March six, March six
forty five dollars open to the public. A wealth of information.
Everyone that has an interest in gambling disorder has been
touched by gambling in any capacity.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Shit, it's in And.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
You've been doing this for how many years now in
this role? Ten ten years? So there's a lot it
must you guys must be providing a great source of
information to be having I hope sen years and I'm
going strong.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
I hope. So that is the intent.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Aliah, why do you love what you do?
Speaker 4 (29:40):
I like helping people, right. I understand the importance of
needing a helping hand out of a situation that may
have grown outside of your control. And rather than being
judged for your inability to do it alone, let's provide
an opportunity in the community for you to do it
for the long her successfully.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Wow. So March sixth, the symposium over at the Suburban
Collection Show Place. The phone number if you are a
family member or friend loved one someone you know needs
a hand one eight hundred and two seven zero seven
one one seven and uh Aliyah Leah Lucas, the Gambling
(30:21):
Disorder Program specialist at the Michigan Department of Health and
Human Services. I always enjoy our conversation because I really
feel like you too. You're helping with something that seems
to be, you know, an issue that has been growing
just because the access and I appreciate the work you're doing.
Thank you so much for joining us today and come
bluck with your symposia.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
This has been light up the d a community a
fairs program from iHeartMedia Detroit. If your organization would like
to get on the program, email Colleen Grant at iHeartMedia
dot com. Here are all episodes on this station's podcast page.
Welcome to Light Up the D, a focus on what's
happening in our community from the people who make it happen.
Here's your host, iHeartMedia Detroit Market President Colleen Grat.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning and welcome to another episode of Light Up
the D. I'm your host, Colleen Grant, Thanks for joining
me today. Our guest today is Aliah Lucas. She is
the Gambling Disorder Program Specialist at the Michigan Department of
Health and Human Services. She has fourteen years of experience
in contract and program management and manages the implementation, development
(00:35):
and expansion of gambling disorder prevention and treatment services throughout
the state of Michigan. Speaking with us today about problem
gambling and gambling disorder. Please join me and welcoming Aliyah Lucas.
Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Aleiah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
So let's talk about gambling disorder.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
What is it?
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Gambling disorder is when individuals have taken their gambling beyond
recreational activity, when it's starting to impact other areas of
their lives. If they're finding themselves engaging more in gambling
as opposed to spending time with friends and loved ones,
spending time doing their favorite hobbies. If it's monopolizing more
(01:18):
and more time in their life, that's what it becomes
an issue worth concern.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
And how does it get to that point?
Speaker 4 (01:24):
It depends on the individual and a lot of times
it depends on the reason for gambling. So gambling is
always the symptom of what the concern or their issue is.
It's not necessarily that gambling is the problem. We think
about gambling, think about it the same way you would
think about substance use disorder, alcoholism.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Right.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Sometimes it's an escape, Sometimes it's a coping mechanism. Sometimes
it's a way to deal with trauma. That's oftentimes the
pathway too. But here recently, what we're becoming aware of
is the accessibility. The accessibility to gam is increasing, right,
So we're finding that individuals that have never thought about
gambling before, because they're inundated with commercials and ass they're
(02:10):
curious and they start engaging and because of the accessibility
and it's so easy, before you know it, you're finding
it as a pastime that might take more and more
of your time.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
So is it something that I mean, you go on
your phone and now you can go on to any
app and you can start to gamble and is it
something that you're finding Is you said more accessible, so
is it more pervasive and people who maybe weren't doing
it before in like different either age groups or genders
(02:41):
or anything like that that you've seen take place.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
I won't speak definitively in regards to like we were
saying individuals does never gambled before, because I don't have
any statistical information to support that. What I can tell
you is that we get costs with the helpline about
individuals that haven't engaged in gambling before and we're seeing
now that they're taking up the behavior. In regards to
individuals that have been gambling, of course, if it's something
(03:06):
that you already do and it's more accessible to you,
then that activity is going to be exacerbated in some
regards and you have to look at it in regards
to who it impacts. So we're kind of widening our
net as far as identifying our target audience. Before we're
looking at gamblers twenty one and over. Going to the
casinos not so much because you can be eighteen and
(03:29):
on your phone. You can be sixteen and sneaking and
you know, putting in the information that gives you access,
although they're really.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Cracking down on that. Now we have to be mindful.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Of the availability, who's engaging and how do we reach
that audience to make sure they're aware of what gambling
disorder is, how to recognize the science and how to
get help.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
How can one of us recognize the science, just the
average person.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
So the easiest way is what we call the live
Bett survey. Two simple questions, Are you spending more money gambling?
And are you lying about how much time you're spending gambling?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Wow, real simple.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
If you're saying yes to either one of those, it's
highly probable that you're gambling is transitioning from recreation to
something that you might want to look about, look into
talking to someone about.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Is there a time frame over which a disorder like
that takes place or is it, like you know, it
can happen different different ways for different like how do
you end up with a gambling disorder?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Again, it's very individualized. And again, you end up with
a gambling disorder when you've engaged in the activity so
much to the point that it monopolizes the majority of
your life. When you find yourself preoccupied with the thoughts
of gambling, or when you're spending your time gambling chasing winds.
As we say, so you can win a lot of money,
(04:52):
but it's because you've had even greater losses. If you're
finding that you're spending more money than you've spent before.
If you're going gambling, let's say you go, you do
go to the casino.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
If you go.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Alone more often then you go with someone, that might
be a concern and for some it can take a
significant amount of time, for some not so much. There
has been instances I've heard of people winning really really
big the first time, right, thousands of dollars your first time.
(05:25):
You know, think about gambling having the impact on the brain, right,
like selfless choose disorder. Right, So once you give you
a high, exactly, once you activate the area of the
brain to that capacity initially, you're going to be looking
for that same sensation, that same feeling when you return
and do it again. So it depends on the individual.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
You and I have talked previously on the show, and
one of the things that I thought was really interesting
that you had indicated previously was when you're watching a
game and it's not really about the game anymore, but
like the point spread and who's what happened that triggers
a potential gambling when and it's not really just about
(06:05):
enjoying the game anymore. I thought that was such an
interesting insight. Can you share kind of like that again.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
You're right in that capacity because at that point, again,
gambling is the tool. Gambling is the tool, and we
were speaking of that. We're talking more so like along
the lines of sports betting, sure, where one may assume
that there's a level of skill or they believe that
it's a level of skill. And in those instances sports betting,
that is why not just youth and young adults, but
(06:34):
student athletes, they are at one of the highest risks
of falling subject to gambling disorder because in sports you're
we're not going to say risky personality, but you're all
about the skill. The chance is the odds anyway, So
that kind of makes increases your odds of being susceptible
to gambling disorder for youth, young adults, and for older adults.
(06:58):
So around March March is our problem gambling awareness month, right,
but we're also pushing it because it's also March Madness,
you know, so we're making sure we're having information available
with the individuals so they'll know the same things I'm
telling you. Now, watch how much you're gambling, Watch how
often you're gam gambling. Set of limit as far as
the amount of money that you're going to spend. If
(07:19):
you're going somewhere to gamble, take someone with you that
you guys can agree to leave at the same time.
That way, you're kind of limiting and restricting yourself and
your access. You're not overdoing it things like that.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So marches are gambling awareness months. It is, and you
have a symposium coming up, let's talk about that.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
It's our annual Gambling Disorder Symposium. It's on March sixth
the and Novaya at the Suburban Collection show Place. It's
a forum that we host every year. It's open to
the public and the purpose of the forum is to
provide information to the Michigan public about gambling disorder. So
if you have an issue with gambling disorder, family, friend,
(07:58):
love one, or if you work in the endustry and
you just want to know more information about it, this
is the event for you to attend. This year, we're
focusing on gambling in areas or underserved populations. That we
haven't previously delved into. So we have six different breakout sessions,
some great keynote speakers. But the topics that we're going
(08:19):
to be looking at this year, we're going to be
looking at gambling disorder and its impact or its correlation
to domestic violence.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Oh, how interesting. Absolutely, there is a correlation.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
There are studies that show that there are significant correlation
between intimate partner violence as well as the domestic violence
and gambling or the increase of violence of the household
when there's multiple familial gambling issues. So a portion of
the funding that we receive for our gamblingess order services
STAY wide is attributed to assisting with domestic violence as well.
(08:52):
So in that capacity, it's an opportunity for us to
bridge the gap, to create awareness and education and bring
awareness some more individuals that might be upon another population.
We might be missing because we're not sharing the information.
So we're looking at that. We're talking about the association
of gain, shame and guilt with gambling disorder, and we're
(09:13):
looking at the approach to treating casino workers versus non
casino workers. We're talking about gambling disorder.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
How much is gambling disorder pervac and casino workers. Isn't
at all.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
More than you would think, really and think about it.
That's you, that's your livelihood, that's the place that you
have to go right to work. So how do you
navigate that? How do you sustain your recovery? Are you
capable of continuing working that same capacity or you have
to do something different? And if so, as a clinician,
what does that clinician have to do out of the
(09:46):
ordinary or extra for that individual, then they will for
somebody that doesn't work in the casinos. Wow, So I
think that we haven't thought about before, you know, where
that's something I would think that a lot of casino
workers will probably be high risk for gambling disorder, or
if not gambling disorder, a very high propensity for gambling,
you know. So that's one of the things that we're
(10:07):
looking at. We're looking at So in the state of Nevada,
they've received some grant funding not too long ago where
they were able to start gambling disorder prevention curriculum with
student athletes in the high schools.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
So we're having.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
Someone come to talk to us from Nevada about what
they're doing in Nevada. Here in Michigan because again we're
trying to grow extend our reach to you, so that's
information we can use there. We're having our keynote speakers.
Doctor Harry Levant is an attorney. He is a clinician.
He is also a gambling disorder trained clinician. He's also
(10:41):
in recovery. As recently as December, he did testimony before
the Senate about the public health threat that sports betting
is and why it needs to be handled as a
public health threat, and he's going to be speaking to
us about that as an speaker. I am really excited
about that. I think it's time that more more people
are becoming aware of the significance of gambling disorder and
(11:05):
not just dismissing it as impulse control. Oh, you don't
have enough full power. You wouldn't tell me that if
I had diabetes, right, I wouldn't tell me that's makeup exactly,
just like you have to take maintenance medication to sustain
any other chronic illness, you know, gambling is that's same severity,
same level of severity, you know. So just making sure
(11:27):
that the Michigan public is aware there's going to be
an opportunity to attend an open GA meeting.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
What does that mean?
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Gambler's anonymous. I'm stic Gambler's anonymous. So there's going to
be an opportunity to attend an open Gambler's anonymous meeting
for those that may need one, or for those that
are in attendance. Because there is a variance, they're not
synonymous with alcoholics anonymous or or narcotics anonymous. There's caveats
(11:57):
because they're they're similar, but because financially linked, that's a
whole nother catalyst. So there's quite a bit of information
that's going to be shared at the simples im I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
If somebody's interested in attending, who should be attending and
how would they find out more information? And or do
they need to register give us all the details.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Anyone' that's interested state why that wants to attend is
able to do so. It's a forty five dollars registration
feeds an ad day event nine in the morning, five
in the afternoon. You will go to the website. The
link for the website can be found as CMHAM dot
org CMHAM Community Mental Health Association of Michigan. That'll org okay,
(12:42):
and if there's anyone that needs help with gambling. This order,
our total retelephone number is eight hundred two seven zero
seven one one seven.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Let's talk a little bit about you had said with
regard to the symposium under serve populations. Yes, can you
talk a little bit more about what is going to
take there for that community?
Speaker 4 (13:02):
So pretty much again, the platform is for awareness and education,
So what we're doing is bring it to the forefront
these undiserved areas that where you don't think individuals are gambling.
So like heading back to student athletes, casino workers, youth,
we have a workshop that's going to be looking at
(13:22):
not just gaming and gambling, but gaming, gambling and social media, misuse, Internet,
social media issues. It all ties in. So we're looking
at the younger demographic. And the reason they we're talking
about youth is because while they might might be gambling now,
a lot of children are gaming and there is a
(13:42):
close correlation between gaming and gambling. I believe we spoke
about this the last but let's talk a little.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Bit more about that because I think that's people need
to be aware of those red flags, right, things that
are taking place in their household that they may think
are innocent, right, you know, that they don't realize there's
a gateway there that taking place. Can you talk a
little bit more about that in case somebody hasn't heard
about that before.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
So, in a general premise, there's a lot of games
that children or young adults and youth engaging that allow
you to play so far and when you get to
a certain point, you've got to pay for skins, or
pay to get to the next level, war pay for coins.
So what does that do. It establishes the predisposition to
(14:24):
the pay for play concepts. So as you continue playing
games with that capacity and you get a little older
and you have a little opportunity.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
To put some money behind it, maybe maybe it's a sports.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Bedding game, right, you know, and you can put a
few dollars on it, and guess what, you're not looking
at it as gambling.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Because you're simply playing the game as you always have.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
But now there's a whole different concern. So there's a
need to bring awareness to that to adults, to parents,
to teachers, to community leaders that work with youth. It's important.
It's great that they're gonna allow the youth to spend
the past time playing games. Will just be observant. How
much time are they engaging? Is there opportunity?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Is there?
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Behaviors and attitudes changing when they don't engage. Same thing
I was saying about gambling. Are they preoccupy with gaming?
Do you have to make them stop? You might want
to pay a little more attention to that if that's
a concern that you have. While we can't enroll children
into treatment services, we can definitely provide services to the
(15:34):
parents that need helps with spartus getting the tools to
help their children.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
That is a great, great call out right there is
Maybe you're listening right now and you're thinking, oh, gosh,
I wonder if there might be an issue in my
household that the Michigan problem gambling. Your association, through the
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, provides preventative services.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Absolutely, can you.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Talk a little bit more about that.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
So in the state of Michigan, we have statewide so
there's ten prepay insurance health plans statewise. So on seven
of those ten regions, we have what's called a gambling
disorder Prevention Coordinator, and we have a gambling disorder Prevention
coordinator within the tribal regions of the state as well,
and their entire job is to assess need within their
(16:23):
region and I identify the tools necessary to provide the
most impactful informations, press promotion, and education. So we have
some regions in the state that are solely focusing on
youth and youth engagement and youth education. And we have
some regions in the state that are just working to
promote awareness in general, so although have their own respective
(16:44):
media campaigns. And then we have some regions that are
working on comorbidity. Let's go ahead and look at the
big picture. How highre is the percentage of comorbidity between
gambling disorder and other substance use disorders. There are some
regions that have I've added the gambling disorder survey as
part of their substance use disorder intake, so that you're
(17:06):
not missing an opportunity to potentially provide services to someone
that needs it, because if not, what then happens? We
may address the substance use this order and have to
address gambling at a later day. Right, So closing the
gap on missing those opportunities as well.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Wow, so interesting tell us Just so if somebody's listening
and they've said, well, that really that's exactly you know
what I need to do. I need to get more
information on the preventative services and education that you guys
are providing. Tell us the helpline again.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
So the helpline telephone number is one eight hundred and
two seven zero seven one one seven. There's also information
about the prevention services. There's a self assessment quiz on
the website at MDAHS dot gov or slash problem gambling.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Yeah, so maybe maybe you're wondering I wonder if I'm
heading down that wrong path that you can actually take
that assessment on the website.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
I also want to provide a little bit of information too,
in addition to what we do with the Michigan Department
of Health and Human Services. Everyone might not be ready
to take the step to actually go to treatment. Sometimes
it's just all you can do to take the steps
to mitigate harm. So you may have individuals that want
to take the first step and say, well, how about
(18:24):
I just don't go to the casinos or I just
don't get on the online platforms. The Michigan Gaming Control
Board has a website and they allow you to there's
information there where you can either go into the Michigan
Gaming Control Board the department in Detroit, Michigan. I'm sorry,
and ban yourself from the casinos, but you can also
(18:47):
ban yourselves from.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
All online gaming platforms.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
And they can find that at Michigan Game control Board.
That information is accessible on their website as far as
how they would complete the application to block themselves from
all online platforms as well, because sometimes that's the first step.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Right, is to try to prevent for your own self
your access.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
Now, if you determine that that's not enough, right, then
you can always come back. You call the help line
and get with a clinician that can take you the
rest of the way.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
So let's talk about that. Somebody calls the helpline, what
do they expect? What? What can they expect? All happen?
Speaker 4 (19:25):
So when you call the help line, you're going to
be created by a clinician that's specialty, specialty trained and
gambling disorder services. So first and foremost they're looking to
mitigate harm by addressing crisis. So if you're in a
crisis state when you call, that's the first level of
attention we're gonna.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
And what might a crisis state be?
Speaker 4 (19:46):
So we understand you might have just left the casino
at three o'clock in the morning and lost all of
your money. You might god it, but you might be
suicidal because we get those calls.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Off oh right, because you're like, what did I just do?
Speaker 4 (19:59):
I needed to be a understood that gambling has the
highest rate of intentional suicide out of any addictive activity
at all.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
So if you're.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
Calling us late at night, you just lost all of
your money, you don't know what you're gonna do. I
can't go home. We're first going to address your immediate
concern to try to get you to a place of
calm where you can further the conversation. Once we do that,
we're then able to just ask you a few questions
seventeen question survey that were asked in the conversational manner
(20:30):
just for us to gauge where you are. Your gambling
activity five affirmative answers indicates that you could benefit from
gamblingess order treatment services. So then we asked if you're interested.
If you're interested, we're going to connect with one of
our clinicians state wide, and then you have access to
twelve sessions of treatment services.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
WOW for free, for free free, twelve twelve free services
to help.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
You there's criteria for that, but yes, okay, yes, that's
what the services are for for those individuals.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
And here's what we do know.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
We know that in the recent years that there are
some insurance providers that actually provide benefits treatment services for
gambling disorder. So if you're one that comes through the helpline,
now you have health insurance that provides that service. We're
still able to connect you with one of our clinations
because many of our clinations participate with all insurance panels
as well.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Can you give us an idea of how gambling is
affecting people in Michigan right now? What are you seeing?
So we're doing this I said in the beginning fourteen
years what's going on?
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Right So we're in the process now. It's been a
bit of time since we've done a deep dive prevalence study.
So we've recently been fortunate enough to obtain additional funding
that allows us to support our research efforts so we
can get a new perspective on what gambling really looks
like in the state of Michigan. So we're talking post COVID,
we're talking in introduction of gaming and gambling to get
(21:54):
a true assessment of how many youth are gauging you know,
how many men are when are engaging or does that
look like as far as gambling activity. The last prevalence
study that we've done has spend quite some time and
the landscape has changed since that time. But what we
do gauges the information that we see annually through our
(22:16):
data reports, and what we see is that about well,
I'm gonna tell you Nationally, statistics show that about sixty
six percent of people that have substitutes order also gamble.
But what we're noticing through our helpline is that the
largest demographic of individuals that gamble are between the eighties
of twenty one and forty nine.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Kind of a widespread.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
I believe that that's still an underrepresentation because again those
are the only the people that call, and not everyone
shares their information. What we're learning is that again it's
maintenance care. There's not one shot and done. We have
people that have gone through our treatment programs too, maybe
even three times takes that. If it takes that, then
(23:02):
you come back and you get the treatment services that
you need. So we have an annual survey that we
do that we're looking to improve to give us a
little more information about how children engage in gambling activity.
So the survey is a two question of survey, and
(23:22):
we only ask if they gamble, how many times have
they gambled in the past three days? How many times
do they think they gambled in the last year. The
information is not definitive in regards to responses. So we're
going to take this opportunity to do another deep dive
with the statewide research to figure out what's going on,
(23:43):
and that information will then help guide our direction as
far as our programming. What it is that we need
to develop in strength And I'm already aware that we
need to make sure that there's better awareness and service
is available for the youth in what capacity? What does
that really look like When we talk about veterans and gambling,
I mentioned that earlier as being one of the underserved populations.
(24:04):
There's a higher rate of gambling amongst active duty military
and veterans and there are for the civilian public. Why
is that because of things such as PTSD. Then the
correlation between PTSD and gambling is coping mechanisms. Some time back,
the National Defense Act made it necessary to incorporate ALISA
(24:26):
in their annual survey questions about gambling because it's recognized
that even when you're away or deployed, gambling is a
highly engaged activity abroad. So when we think about it
in regards to a coping mechanism, stress PTSD, limited entertainment being,
(24:47):
you know, the stresses of being in those environments, and
then when you return home the stress of reactive acclimating
to home life and how things have changed. And you know,
it's a coping mechanism. So it's higher within the actability
and bedroom community than the civilian the civilian community, and
(25:07):
they're made of suicide is virals, so making sure we
provide information about that and making sure they're where the
services are available, and things of that nature kind of
some of the things that we're focusing on.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Let's talk about why it's important to talk about problem
gambling and gambling addiction and the stigma surrounding the conversations
that aren't happening.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
That's why it's important to have the conversation to eliminate
the stigma. Listen, gambling is a nationally accepted pastime. Right,
internationally accepted past I mean for most it's perfectly fine.
We are not anti gambling, right, enjoy the activity, have fun,
(25:51):
but be aware of the possibility of it being something
more than fun. And it's important to have that conversation,
so you know, so that you know, Okay, So what
is gambliness order? And does my activity fall in line
with possibly having gambliness order? How do I recognize that
in other people?
Speaker 3 (26:10):
You know?
Speaker 4 (26:10):
Does it really is it? Is it impose control or
is it more than that? Does it affect other areas
of my life? How does it affect me? How does
it affect the ones that I love? How do I
get help? It's important for that reason to have that conversation.
And it differs and depending on who it is, what
works for someone between the eighties of eighteen and twenty
one might not work for someone that's seventy or sixty.
(26:33):
And I say seventy and sixty because believe it or not,
seniors have a high risk for gambling as well. And
I want to mention that I don't think I mentioned that.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
I'm one of the things that we talk about and
we discussed when I say, well, I met our helpline
staff in our industry professionals, we have individuals that call
through the helpline that are seniors. You know, we think
about seniors that have lost their loved ones, may not
have children, or it may not be close to their children,
and they find themselves either living along and long term care.
(27:07):
It becomes a pastime, right, It becomes an entertainment and
if there's nothing else, it can be a constant source
of entertainment that you see is fun and you haven't
realized that it's transitioned even further than that. But what
happens with the senior community if you and I exhaust
our money gambling. We've got time, right, hopefully we have
(27:31):
time to recoup. So what do you do if you're
at later stages of life and you don't have that time.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
You're retired and you don't have a source of income.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Right, and you're exhausting your money and now you're gambling.
Could possibly impact with yourself your life in a way
that it compromises your ability to maintain. That's important to
have the conversation, especially when you think about not so
much now, not anywhere near as prevalent as it used
to be before. But there used to be a pastime
(28:01):
the bus, yeah, and take them to the casino right right?
In Great pastime that can transition into something other than that,
and now we're not addressed and gain, we're not recognized,
and we don't know what to do, and now they're
left to deal with it on their own. So I
want to make sure we make provisions for that demographic
have been dimended as well, making sure that we're aware
(28:23):
of how gambling impacts different people than how.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
So you you may be listening and you may think
I might have a gambling disorder issue that I need
to address, or you have a family member or a friend,
or might just get in how somebody can get help
and service.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
So again, our total free helpline one eight hundred two
seven zero seven one one seven. Our website is MDHHS
dot gov or we slash problem Gambling. Our helpline is
twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Anytime
you call, someone's gonna be available to give you the
(29:01):
help that you.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Need and remind us about the symposium again.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
The Sympolsion was on March the sixth. It's in the
Novas Suburban Show Collections Show Place March six, March six
forty five dollars open to the public. A wealth of information.
Everyone that has an interest in gambling disorder has been
touched by gambling in any capacity.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Shit, it's in And.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
You've been doing this for how many years now in
this role? Ten ten years? So there's a lot it
must you guys must be providing a great source of
information to be having I hope sen years and I'm
going strong.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
I hope. So that is the intent.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Aliah, why do you love what you do?
Speaker 4 (29:40):
I like helping people, right. I understand the importance of
needing a helping hand out of a situation that may
have grown outside of your control. And rather than being
judged for your inability to do it alone, let's provide
an opportunity in the community for you to do it
for the long her successfully.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Wow. So March sixth, the symposium over at the Suburban
Collection Show Place. The phone number if you are a
family member or friend loved one someone you know needs
a hand one eight hundred and two seven zero seven
one one seven and uh Aliyah Leah Lucas, the Gambling
(30:21):
Disorder Program specialist at the Michigan Department of Health and
Human Services. I always enjoy our conversation because I really
feel like you too. You're helping with something that seems
to be, you know, an issue that has been growing
just because the access and I appreciate the work you're doing.
Thank you so much for joining us today and come
bluck with your symposia.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
This has been light up the d a community a
fairs program from iHeartMedia Detroit. If your organization would like
to get on the program, email Colleen Grant at iHeartMedia
dot com. Here are all episodes on this station's podcast page.
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