East Tennessee State University (ETSU) has opened the state’s second gambling treatment clinic in Johnson City.
ETSU clinical psychology professor Meredith Ginley told WJHL News 11: “This is something people don’t talk about.” She continued, “You’ve done damage to your family, you’ve done damage to your finances, maybe you’ve lost your house because of this — and people will say ‘it was just a slot machine, didn’t you know the odds, how were you so stupid’ — there’s a lot of stigma there.”
She expects the increase in legal gaming in the state to push the number of problem gamblers beyond 100,000. Until now the state’s only other such clinic was at the University of Memphis (UM).
Ginley and a professor from UM together worked on a grant application over the last Christmas break and obtained $1.2 million to open a clinic affiliated with UM. It will employ graduate student therapists and Ginley to offer in-person and telehealth sessions.
Ginley commented, “The students that work for me will get specific specialized training in treating gambling disorder, which will then be more people in the workforce who know how to do this and talk about this and help people.”
The clinic can help people who just want to cut back without completely giving up gambling, or quit completely. “They’re able to talk to us, share with us their goals, what’s bothering them, what they want to change, and we can work with them to tailor skills to curb the compulsion to gamble,” said Ginley.
