This document outlines an agenda for an advanced practitioners workshop on problem gambling counseling. It includes introductions, sharing of counseling approaches, and plans for role-play exercises. The role-plays involve couples counseling, alcohol assessments, and suicide risk assessments using motivational interviewing skills. The workshop also covers using motivational interviewing in groups, including open-ended questions, affirmations, reflective listening, summarizing, and change planning. Participants break into small groups to practice these skills through additional role-plays and exercises.

1. National Problem Gambling
Provider Forum
July 2010
Advanced Practitioners
Workshop
ABACUS Counselling, Training and Supervision Ltd

2. - Introductions
- What experience we have, different approaches we
currently use
- Pitched at advanced today
interactive, sharing the skills you use with others in the
room, collective wealth in room, practice skills
- Plan for session:
please commit to staying the whole session (group
safety issues, lessens disruptions)
- Role plays:
couples work, alcohol audit round, suicide assessment,
using motivational interviewing with excluded clients
- Motivational interviewing with groups

4. Exercise One: Mr and Mrs Smith
Break into small groups of 4-6
Role play:
• Counsellor
• Ken Smith
• Julia Smith
• Observer(s)
Time at end for feedback to big group. Report styles/
approaches/interventions used.

5. Ken Smith and Julie Smith have come to this
counselling session via the Gambling Helpline. Julia
made the call and appointment. On the referral sheet
it says Julie is unsure how much money Ken has lost
on horse and sports betting because they have
separate bank accounts. Julia says they have two
children, aged ten and twelve. She is concerned
about the lack of input Ken has into family life. On
the weekends she is the one that taxis them around
to sports and friends’, while Ken sits at home in front
of the telly or studies the racing forms.

6. You enjoy your sports and horse gambling. Most weeks
you lose $100 to $200 on gambling, but you think its
justified, as your wife spends this much on “rubbish” for
the house, or on the kids. Sometimes you feel a bit guilty
about the time you spend away from your kids, but then
think your wife is better dealing with them anyway, as
when you are around the kids play up anyway. You
would rather spend time at the TAB, or in front of the telly
watching sport or racing. You get stressed out with the
kids screaming and find them demanding. You also
spend a lot of time planning your bets.

7. Exercise Two: Audit
Break into small groups with:
• Standard drinks form
• Audit
• Audit scoring sheets.
Role play using audit and arrive at scores. Observers
can give some prompting to help counsellor if
necessary. Debrief as a big group and compare how
we scored.

8. Andy is eighteen years of age. This is your third
counselling session with him. At the end of the last
counselling session, Andy made comments about his
alcohol use, which led you to believe he has a
drinking problem. In this session, you are going to do
an alcohol assessment, using the Audit Screening
Tool.

9. You drink a six pack of 8% Codys (Bourbon and cola)
most nights however, on Friday and Saturday quite
often, you will drink a six pack of beer, a six pack of
Codys and some tequila shots - but all your flatmates
do that.

11. This is a late night appointment. Ben is 32 years of age and
works at a nearby retail store. He says he has come to the
session straight from work and he needs to catch the bus
home in 45 minutes, as it is the last bus.
He tells you that on the weekend, his partner left him after
finding a credit card statement which showed cash
withdrawals which he could not explain.
When he admitted that he had been gambling, she told Ben
the relationship was over. Ben tells you that without her,
there is no point in going on. When you do your suicide
assessment, Ben discloses suicidal thoughts since the
weekend, and a past attempt about two years ago, following
another relationship break-up.

12. You are not sure about whether counselling is going to make
a difference and don’t really want to be here.
Now that your girlfriend has left you, there is not much point
in going on. You have come to counselling and think that if it
doesn’t work tonight, and if they can’t promise to fix your
gambling, you may as well be dead.
You tried to hang yourself after a failed relationship two
years ago. You got interrupted when a flatmate arrived
home early, and you have never before told anyone about
this attempt.
Maybe you will hang yourself with your belt tonight. You
know you will be alone and will not be interrupted.

14. Rose self barred from the Casino twelve months ago after she
developed a casino pokies gambling problem. She says she is
able to return if she has six sessions of counselling. She would
like six sessions of counselling completed as soon as possible so
she can return to the casino by the time her parents come to visit
in a few weeks. Her parents do not know Rose has had problems
with her gambling and Rose expects them to ask her to take them
to the Casino for dinner and entertainment. She says she
occasionally gambles on the pokies but it is not problematic now.
When she self barred her husband took control of her finances and
she has been able to control her pokies gambling at the pub since.
She says her husband knows she is coming to counselling and is
happy for her to return to the Casino when her parents visit.

16. A part of you would really like to go back to the
Casino and a part of you knows it might be hard to
stop gambling once you go back. You are
embarrassed about your gambling problems and
would be horrified if your family from Australia found
out. You have often felt your parents compared you
to your sister who has done well for herself – has a
good career and nice home. You would like to win
just enough money to get a better house and to show
them you are just as good as her.

18. Using David Kolb’s (1984) model of experiential
learning for group work:
1. Reflecting on Experience
2. Assimilating and Conceptualising
3. Experimenting and Practicing
4. Planning for Application

19. • Socialisation, communication skills, learning from others
• Sense of community/relationship
• Shared experiences – normalisation, universality
• Hope, inspiration
• Support/acceptance/empathy
• Corrective emotional experiences
• Cost efficiency

20.  Roll With Resistance
 Express Empathy
 Develop Discrepancy
 Support Self efficacy

21.  Open Questions
 Affirmations
 Reflective Listening
 Summarising

22. Break into small groups:
• Brainstorm open ended questions or invitations
suitable for i) a PG group
ii) a significant other group
• Discuss how we manage floor space
• Give brief summary to big group

23.  Theme (e.g. Counsellor offers open ended question/
invitation to group)
 One on one, first person in round shares (counsellor
offers reflective listening, emphasis on change talk,
counsellor checks that other group members are engaged
an listening through eye contact, body language)
 Theme (summary, possible link with last sharing, link to
big picture)
 One on one, second person in round shares (reflective
listening, encourages others feedback/reflection)
 Theme (summary, possible links with past sharing, links to
big picture) etc

24. Break into small groups or run as big group:
• Nominate a counsellor or two co-counsellors (Please
be kind to the counsellors! ie purpose to practise MI
group training not working with a disruptive, angry
client!)
• Using an open ended question/invitation begin a group
round and use sharing, reflecting, linking, summarising
skills during the round.
• At end of round summarise and link back to original
question/invitation.

25. Change planning in group
“After you leave today what is one change that you can make
to ….”
Why is it important for you to take this step?”
(On scale 1-10 how important to take step?)
How will you do it?
How will you know if it’s working?
What will you do if it’s not working?
How can the group (and others) help?
Use summarising and make links/emphasise commonalities.

26. Options (consider time!)
1/ Break into small groups, decide whether you are a
PG or SO client group. Decide on who will be your
two new co-counsellors
One co-counsellor asks, “After you leave today what
is one change that you can make towards a goal you
have shared today…” (members to pretend they
have!)
The two counsellors use change planning skills to
facilitate the group.
2/ Role play change planning in big group.
Volunteers needed please!

27. • Sort “Important to Me” and “Not” piles
• Ask them to sort out the “Important Pile” cards into two
piles: “Important to Me” and “Most Important to Me”
with no more than five cards in the “Most Important to
Me” pile.
• Put aside all the cards except the five “Most Important
to Me” cards.
• Explore…

28.  Invitation or open ended question to elicit what values they
have related to an issue the group is focusing on. e.g.
health, work/home balance, financial wealth
 Check out how these values play out in other situations:
“How do these values relate to...”
 “How may these values guide you in future situations?”
 Use OARS. Link together by reflecting on content, specific
values and/or how values interact with an issue. Same for
summaries.
e.g. “Although your values say spending time with your
children is important, you find yourself working overtime to
pay for gambling.”

29.  Working in MI style in a group uses the same skills – the
key is to elicit from the group and its members some
shared recovery themes
 Work collaboratively with the group as a whole by linking
common themes and relating to the ‘big picture’ using
OARS
 Preparing for change as a group while acknowledging
different stages of change; enhance links and mutual
affirmation/support
 Support positive shared group values to highlight
discrepancies to elicit ‘change talk’