Brain Connections & Workshop
“I can’t stop gambling…every time I lose, I keep coming back…why?” “It’s not fun anymore, so why do I feel like I need to gamble?” “Why does my brother keep gambling even when he’s lost everything?”
As an RG specialist, how do you respond when visitors ask these questions? This session will describe Brain Connections – tools you can use to educate visitors and RG staff about the brain and gambling. Brain Connections was developed as a partnership between problem gambling researchers and clinicians and has been adapted for Discovery 2020 to assist RG educators to answer frequently asked questions about the brain, gambling and how problems might develop. This interactive workshop will teach you how to effectively respond to common questions and give you an opportunity to practice messaging using case scenarios of visitor interactions.
Thursday, April 16th, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Room TBA
Speakers:
Iris Balodis
Iris Balodis, PhD, is assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University. Her research focuses on motivational processes influencing maladaptive decision-making, including gambling disorder.
Deirdre Querney
Deirdre Querney, MSW, is a Registered Social Worker with the City of Hamilton’s Alcohol, Drug & Gambling Services and has been a counsellor in the field of addictions since 2000. She is certified by the Canadian Problem Gambling Certification Board (CPGCB) and the Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Federation (CACCF). She has taught at the McMaster University Centre for Continuing Education in the Professional Addictions Studies Program since 2003. Deirdre’s current research interests include spirituality and addictions, the neurobiology of problem gambling and motherhood and addictions.