Overview

Gambling and other problematic behaviours are a coping strategy for grief, particularly for people with limited other coping strategies/high levels of stress and responsibility/low levels of social support. These behaviours fill a ‘need’ for people - it gives something as well as ‘taking away’ - and the need will be different for different people, even if the behaviour is the same. For instance, one gambler may enjoy the sensory immersion/escape provided by playing pokies in the club, meeting their need for respite from an overwhelming situation. Another gambler may come to the club and play the pokies for the informal social interactions that occur around gaming, meeting their need for company.  

In treatment, what gambling ‘gives’ people is just as important to focus on as what it ‘takes away’. Too often we focus on what gambling ‘takes away’ - the harm it causes our client and their families. However, we can only encourage more healthy coping strategies if we first help our clients understand what need the behaviour is filling - what it ‘gives’. 

We cannot expect behaviour change until we build up other coping strategies, and a grieving client’s capacity to do this may be very limited. What this means for counsellors and practitioners working with clients existing at the nexus of gambling and grief is that we need to be cautious advising a ‘cold turkey’ withdrawal; give clients choice/options/control, especially in clients who have experienced trauma; and build healthier coping before we move into behaviour change.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• understand gambling as a coping mechanism that can be particularly challenging in clients experiencing grief and loss. 
• know the importance of exploring the unmet needs gambling meets. 
• explore what unmet needs gambling may be meeting and the diversity of drivers for gambling behaviour. 
• understand the importance of building healthy coping alongside approaches to address gambling harm. 

Presenter Bio

Presenter Name: Dr Elizabeth (Ellie) Kirk

MCouns, PhD, BA(Hons),Registered Counsellor, ACA Member, PACFA Provisional Member

Dr Elizabeth Kirk, is a counsellor who works online from a small town in rural NSW, where she and her young family live on a farm. She is a member of the Australian Counselling Association (ACA), Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA), and Grief Australia (GA), formerly Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement (ACGB). 

Dr Elizabeth Kirk has always been interested in people, their lives and their stories. This curiosity led her to a Doctorate in sociology at the Australian National University in Canberra. Her PhD explored gambling and its social contexts. After completing her PhD, she worked in government, traveled around Spain hiking the Camino de Santiago, and returned to Australia more connected to what she enjoyed most in life: people and their stories. Elizabeth started volunteering with Lifeline and enrolled in a Masters of Counselling at Monash University, and moved to Melbourne to work in some health promotion organisations while completing her studies.

During her Masters, Elizabeth I learned that there were many different types of counselling and was fortunate to gain a placement, and later work, in schools and crisis counselling. School work and crisis work exposed her to the full spectrum of counselling issues where no two days were the same. After her placement, she returned to Canberra and worked in the grief, loss and trauma space, as well as in gambling counselling. As her family relocated to rural NSW, and the world changed with Covid, Elizabeth decided that the next direction she wanted to grow in was to start an online/phone counselling service. She has been in private practice since September 2021 and enjoys working with a diverse range of clients, many of whom are living with grief and loss. 

Webinar Details

Date

Thursday 22 August 2024

Times

10:00 am to 11:30 am AEDT

Prices

• Member $50.00
• Non-Member $75.00

Location

Delivered online via Zoom

Cancellation and Refund Policy

• Grief Australia reserves the right to cancel education programs that do not achieve minimum participation, in which case Grief Australia will refund all fees.
• Registration cancellations will not be accepted unless made in writing to Grief Australia.
• Cancellations made more than twenty one (21) days before the event date will be refunded less 25% of the registration fee to cover administration costs.
• No registration refunds will be made after this date. Please note: The total invoiced amount will still be payable in the event of non-attendance on the day.

Terms and Conditions

1. Intellectual Property

Grief Australia's program and program content are copyrighted. Its use and dissemination are restricted and unauthorised duplication is prohibited. A copy of the course presentation will be available after the course and is for personal/non-commercial use only. The content is not to be modified or republished in any way without the prior consent of Grief Australia and the presenter. Any breach of copyright, including the recording of the presentation or any unauthorised use of the material, may lead to legal action.

2. Links and Material from the course

Course's and the follow-up email may contain links that lead to external websites to Grief Australia. Grief Australia has no control of these websites and Grief Australia makes no representations about the accuracy of the information contained on these websites. Grief Australia is not liable for the content on these websites. The presenter may also provide further reference materials for your use after the course. These may include (but are not limited to):

- A copy of the course slides
- Journal articles
- Templates or other documents

All course-related materials remain copyrighted by Grief Australia and the presenter. They must not be distributed to any third party at any time or in any form without written permission from Grief Australia.

3. Registration

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Individual Registration: Provides one person, the registrant, access to the course or recording for personal viewing only.