Brown Bagger
This section is set up to provide a ready-made Brown Bag Session for you to use with employees and/or managers. Use as is, or adapt this information for a general employee group. You may reproduce as many copies as needed.
Helping the Problem Gambler f you don’t think you know a compulsive gambler, don’t bet on it! While gambling represents honest fun for a lot people, for one in 20 persons it leads the individual on a path to personal and financial ruin. Moreover, when someone has a problem with gambling, everyone in the family is affected. It is important to be aware of this impact and to understand there are resources available to assist — which includes the EAP. This article is separated into several areas: assisting the family who may be living with a compulsive gambler; separating gambling misconceptions from facts (see also the Handout section); and presenting assessment tools in determining who might be a problem gambler in the workplace. (These tools include the model at the bottom of this page, which is also described on page 3 in this month’s Brown Bagger.)
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February 2009
Assisting the Family The family member should answer the following questions to help determine if he/she is living with a problem gambler: 1. Do you find yourself constantly bothered by bill collectors? 2. Is the person in question often away from home for long, unexplained periods of time? 3. Does this person ever lose time from work due to gambling? 4. Do you feel that this person cannot be trusted with money? 5. Does the person in question faithfully promise that they will stop gambling; beg, plead for another chance, yet gamble again and again? 6. Does this person ever gamble longer than they
EA Report Brown Bagger 1