The Huntington Comprehensive Treatment Center in Huntington, West Virginia added Kayla Harless and Samantha Page as gambling addiction counselors. They recently completed the required 30-hour training will receive their Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counseling certificates.
Harless has been employed at the center since earning a master’s degree in counseling from Marshall University. Page also attended Marshall University and has been working at the center for four years.
Huntington Comprehensive Treatment Center provides counseling and treatment for individuals with drug or alcohol addiction, but Harless and Page also will screen clients for gambling addiction. Page explained, “There is a high co-morbidity between gambling and addiction, because they both trigger the same area in your brain, where it releases the dopamine, and that affects the emotions and behaviors.” She noted a Kansas State University study found “44 percent of those with disordered gambling behavior also report a lifetime history of alcoholism.”
The center’s Communications Director Shelia Moran said having gambling treatment counselors at the center will better serve those with both types of addiction. “Treatment techniques are very unique to this disorder because of the psychological factors involved in the compulsion to continue gambling.”
The Problem Gamblers Help Network of West Virginia operates the 1-800-GAMBLER helpline, which has taken nearly 700 calls from Cabell County this year. Callers will receive crisis intervention and schedule an appointment with Harless, Page or another counselor. Besides group and individual counseling, the organization offers ongoing treatment, referrals and long-term follow-up care. Most callers stop gambling within six months of starting treatment.
