“We want to lead the way for advancing problem gambling support services available in the United States,” said Jennifer Kruse, Executive Director of FCCG.

SANFORD, Fla. (PRWEB)
September 20, 2021

The Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling (FCCG) is launching a new, no-cost Online Program for Problem Gamblers (OPPG), created with partnership support from the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

Floridians can now access online interactive support immediately, on-demand. No insurance is needed and no additional payments for in-person services are charged.

Designed using the latest science, combined with data generated from decades of assisting problem gamblers, the FCCG’s OPPG program offers meaningful and effective ways for people in Florida to get help.

“We want to lead the way for advancing problem gambling support services available in the United States,” said Jennifer Kruse, Executive Director of FCCG. “And we are proud of our almost 30-year relationship with the Seminole Tribe of Florida and Seminole Gaming. Without them, we could not have created this program.”

The 8-week online program, accessed through the FCCG’s 24-hour HelpLine (888-ADMIT-IT), allows the user to self-pace exercises, videos, and readings, while interactive questionnaires provide individual feedback on participant results from licensed mental health professionals.

Informed by research from the fields of psychology, psychiatry, mental health, and problem gambling, the program’s core content was developed by several of the world’s leading experts, incorporating interventions shown to help problem gamblers obtain a path to recovery.

“This program is rooted in FCCG’s extensive experience with problem gamblers, drawing upon data from 30 years of managing the helpline for one of the largest states in the USA,” said Dr. Rory Reid, a research psychologist and International Certified Gambling Counselor with over 20 years of clinical experience working with problem gamblers. “The content targets important issues faced by problem gamblers.”

The OPPG eliminates barriers that keep people from seeking traditional face-to-face help services, including cost, travel times, remote geography, childcare challenges, stigmatization of gambling, methods of learning, and fears about confidentiality.

“One of the big questions globally in the gambling field is, ‘why don’t more people who experience problems seek gambling help services?’ The Florida Council’s OPPG tackles this challenge head on,” said Paul Pellizzari, Vice-President of Global Social Responsibility for Seminole Gaming and Hard Rock International.

Release of OPPG marks Responsible Awareness Education Awareness Week, September 19-25, an annual national event promoted by the American Gaming Association. The FCCG, Florida’s authority on issues related to gambling addiction, will be traveling to all six Seminole Gaming and Hard Rock Casinos in Florida to promote OPPG and other services as part of Seminole Gaming and Hard Rock’s PlayersEdge program, which includes ongoing efforts to educate casino employees who interact with gamblers.

In addition to the new online program, the FCCG’s 24-hour confidential and multilingual HelpLine provides many resources for gamblers, loved ones, and others in need of assistance, including referrals to:

• Professional treatment services provided by certified gambling addiction mental health professionals
• Self-help support group options
• Self-exclusion programs for land-based and online forms of gambling, including cryptocurrency and stock trading
• Resources for limiting access to cash and restricting transaction permissions
• Self-help literature

“OPPG is another way we can offer hope for positive change,” Ms. Kruse said. “Problem gamblers can better understand their behavior, improve emotional regulation, develop sustainable personal coping strategies, and reduce the shame often associated with the disorder.”

Compulsive or problem gambling is classified as a behavioral addiction by the American Psychiatric Association, and research shows this disorder is similar to substance-related disorders based on brain origin, physiology, association with other mental health problems, and treatment.

Gambling addiction is treatable for those who seek help. For anyone in need of assistance, contact the FCCG’s 24/7 888-ADMIT-IT HelpLine via phone (888-236-4848), text (321-978-0555), email (fccg@gamblinghelp.org), chat (gamblinghelp.org), or social media (e.g., Facebook and Twitter), and by downloading the 888-ADMIT-IT mobile app. Every contact is completely free and confidential, and multilingual support is available.

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PITTSBURGH (PRWEB)
September 18, 2021

With the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Pressley Ridge’s Social Research and Innovation Center (SRIC) is analyzing relationships between social service providers and clients through a series of research studies. A recent study tested Pressley Ridge’s Alliance Building: Learning to Engage (ABLE), a model for developing and tracking provider-client relationships, also known as working alliances. Pressley Ridge realizes that these alliances (with individuals, groups, teams, etc.) are at the center of everything we do. ABLE encourages providers to open the lines of communication and collaboration with the individuals they serve with a series of prompts. Alongside these prompts is a mobile application that providers use to save client feedback and monitor the strength of their alliances over time.

In the research study, one group of providers used ABLE with their youth clients and another group did not. Results from the study revealed that youth-provider pairs who used the ABLE feedback tool developed a strong working alliance faster than youth-provider pairs who did not use the tool. At three months into treatment, youth using the ABLE feedback tool reported significantly stronger, more healthy working alliances than youth who were not using the ABLE feedback tool with providers.

The results of this study, which were recently published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies, are significant to the child welfare field where services are often brief or condensed by design. In addition, working alliance experts stress the importance of forging a strong working alliance early in treatment, citing benefits such as improved client outcomes and reduced mental health issues. Having a tool available that hastens the development of the working alliance is useful to all clinicians but may be particularly supportive to those providing brief treatment.

“The working alliance is an important piece of knowing how well we connect with people to ensure we are positively impacting our communities, youth, and families,” said Susanne Cole, President and CEO. “ABLE was developed to be applicable to a wide-variety of individuals, services, and systems within the human services field, and we are pleased to now have proof that this method expedites the path to stronger, healthier client-provider relationships.”

Pressley Ridge is currently sharing the results with staff and examining how the ABLE intervention might support working alliance-building efforts. The organization will continue to explore how employees create and maintain healthy working alliances with youth and families. For more information about this work, please contact Michael Valenti, Senior Research Coordinator (mvalenti@pressleyridge.org).

About Pressley Ridge

Pressley Ridge provides individuals and families with hope and support through life’s challenges. Each year, 9,000 children and families are strengthened through community-based mental health services, foster care and adoption, specialized education and supportive services for transition-age youth. Our more than 70 programs all share a common goal of establishing stable, healthy families and life-long connections that result in a successful, happy life. Pressley Ridge was founded in 1832 and remains headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A legacy of successful outcomes has allowed the organization to expand services to communities in Central Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia and Delaware.

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INDIANAPOLIS (PRWEB)
September 17, 2021

The Board of Directors of Youth Opportunity Foundation has confirmed Mike McCulla as their newest member, serving a three-year term. McCulla is the CEO of Keystone Behavioral Health and an advocate for behavioral health services for at-risk youth for over 30 years. He began working with at-risk youth as a clinician in 1989 and has since helped develop various community-based programs that have helped many young people with mental health and behavioral needs.

“We’re excited about having Mike on our board. He’s well respected among the youth service provider communities and is very experienced with many of the key initiatives of our Foundation which makes him an ideal Director,” says Denny Armington, President of Youth Opportunity Foundation. Mr. McCulla’s election to the board was confirmed on May 13, 2021.

About Youth Opportunity Foundation (YOF)

YOF is a 501c3 nonprofit organization committed to addressing the issues confronting today’s youth, especially those involved in the juvenile justice system and in need of a second chance. Through improved clinical treatment and strategies for mental wellbeing, access to post-secondary education, jobs, and mentored relationships we assist vulnerable youth in becoming successful adults. For more information please visit http://www.yofoundation.org.

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ATLANTA (PRWEB)
September 13, 2021

Insight Global, a nationwide staffing company dedicated to empowering people through the power of opportunity, announced a $250,000 donation to nonprofit Women for Women International (WfWI) in the wake of the Afghanistan crisis and during the company’s annual Women’s Week.

WfWI has worked for nearly 20 years at the grassroots level to advance the rights of women in Afghanistan. Afghan women have been marginalized by decades of conflict and bound by religious and cultural traditions that restrict freedom of movement and reinforce rigid gender norms. WfWI plays a key role in supporting the women who remain in Afghanistan, especially during the turbulent Taliban takeover, working to provide them with the assistance and resources they need to survive.

“Over the past few decades, we’ve reached more than 120,000 women in Afghanistan, through our Stronger Women Stronger Nations program and this number is growing rapidly as we work to increase services for those displaced and who need us more than ever,” said Laurie Adams, CEO, Women for Women International. “Insight Global’s contribution will help us to adapt our programs for our new reality under Taliban rule and the changing political landscape.”

Insight Global’s donation will be put to immediate use through key methods WfWI have identified as the most critical:

• Supplying women with solar powered phones, so while isolated they can connect with each other and the WfWI team for emotional comfort, as well as to obtain vital information and cash transfers
• Mental health and psychological wellbeing support for WfWI program participants and staff in the country or refugees forced to leave Afghanistan who are facing extreme emotional hardships
• Additional security assistance for staff and operations on the ground in Afghanistan
• Real-time solutions developed as the situation and women’s needs change

“We are honored to support the efforts of Women for Women International as they help the women in Afghanistan who are being marginalized and abused by a new regime that restricts their freedom, education, access to health care, and opportunity to become economically self-sufficient,” said Insight Global CEO Bert Bean. “One of our company mantras is to ‘Be the Light’ by spreading positivity, and we are thrilled to share what it means to ‘Be the Light’ with a population of women who are in a dark space and deserve better.”

WfWI’s vision is to create a world in which all women determine the course of their lives and reach their full potential. So, it’s very fitting for Insight Global to announce their donation during the company’s Women’s Week, which takes place September 13-17. Now in its third year, Women’s Week is dedicated to recognizing the countless inspiring women – from role models to changemakers – in the organization who motivate others to achieve greatness.

Along with supporting WfWI, Insight Global employees are emboldened to participate in Women’s Week with COVID-safe events and wellness experiences and by spotlighting the inspiring clients, consultants, and women in the company through personal messages and social media. Participants are encouraged to use special hashtags, #InspiringWomen and #IGWomensWeek2021, to share their stories.

Women for Women International

Women for Women International invests where inequality is greatest by helping women who are forgotten —the women survivors of war and conflict. In Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Sudan, women learn skills to rebuild their families and communities through Women for Women International’s Stronger Women Stronger Nations Program. They form support networks, learn to earn an income and save, and gain knowledge and resources about health and their rights. Since 1993, the organization has invested in the power of over 500,000 women to use their voices and create a ripple effect that makes the world more equal, peaceful, and prosperous. To learn more about the power of women, for women, visit http://www.womenforwomen.org.

Insight Global

Insight Global isn’t just a staffing company. We’re a company that cares for others. It might sound lofty, but it’s the idea that gets us up every day, determined to make it true. Insight Global is a company that people can anchor to in moments of triumph, struggle, and every time in between. Whoever you are and wherever you come from, you matter to us and we have your back. Whether it’s finding the right candidate for a job or seamlessly managing a project end to end, our conviction and commitment to our consultants and clients runs deep. With 60+ field offices across the US and Canada, putting to work over 50,000 Consultants annually, we believe together, anything is possible. Learn more at http://www.insightglobal.com.

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MILWAUKEE (PRWEB)
September 10, 2021

Travis Geier dreamt of being an author since he was a child. He spent hours in bookstores and libraries looking at Garfield and Captain Underpants books, but Travis was held back by his learning disabilities. Travis remembers having to go to the CMC, the room for kids who struggled with academics. Later in his adolescence, Travis was diagnosed with type 1 bipolar disorder. On his 18th birthday, after years of little academic effort, Travis dropped out of high school with a second-grade writing level. At age 19, Travis obtained his HSED and started a junk removal business to support himself as an individual with bipolar disorder. The Junk Truck was wildly successful in his community but eventually, Travis’s bipolar disorder caught up with him and he was unable to continue operating the business. Years later, Travis was made fun of online for his writing abilities. This prompted Travis to go back to school to study English so one day he could write a book and share his story of the dirty jobs, drugs, and depravity of The Junk Truck.

“I really had to persevere while going back to school because I was struggling so hard financially due to my addiction and mental illness. One day, I ran out of gas on my way to school and again on my way back because I was so financially unstable when I wasn’t running The Junk Truck anymore. I really took for granted the 12 years that I spent in school because when I went back to school to write the book I had a lot working against me as a 29-year-old man. It was really amazing for me to go from a second-grade writing level to an early college level in the three years I spent studying, especially considering my drug addiction and bipolar disorder.”

Travis Geier was born in Milwaukee but raised in Ixonia, Wisconsin. Travis is best known for his role in Wisconsin junk removal. He owned The Junk Truck, worked for Junk King, and finished his career with College Hunks Hauling Junk. He ran The Junk Truck for close to 10 years before deep diving into creative ventures. In entertainment, Travis has acted in some of the scariest haunted attractions in the Midwest. He also has played countless long-form improv comedy shows. He maintained a blog at travisvulture.com detailing his struggles with mental illness. Travis currently resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with his retired greyhound, Fiction.

The Junk Truck is a gritty junk haul tell-all about the hoarding situations, the crazy customers and employees, the dirty jobs, and the mental illness behind the small junk removal service you have never heard of. The book is a collection of essays that follow Travis’s story from dropping out of high school, to growing his business and becoming a respected entrepreneur, to having his mobile home raided by a S.W.A.T. team over a wellness check, to rebuilding his life and finding stability.

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