UB School of Social Work to Sponsor Workshop on Problem Gambling

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The School of Social Work at the University at Buffalo, in collaboration with the Erie County Department of Mental Health, will present a workshop, "Problem Gambling: A Community Concern," from 1:30-4 p.m. on Nov. 3 in the Butler Auditorium of the Buffalo Psychiatric Center, 330 Forest Ave.

The workshop is designed to educate mental-health, chemical-dependency and social-service providers, as well as members of the community, about how problem gambling impacts individuals, families and the community.

The workshop will be free and open to the public.

This workshop will look at problem and compulsive gambling, including warning signs, prevalence of the problem and populations vulnerable to developing a gambling problem and the community resources that are available.

In addition, experts will offer perspectives on financial problems associated with gambling, response of the criminal justice system and the effect gambling has on adolescents and their parents.

Participants will include Renee Wert, Ph.D., director, Gambling Recovery Program, Jewish Family Service; Jeffrey Freedman of Jeffrey Freedman Attorneys; the Hon. Mark G. Farrell, presiding judge, Amherst Drug Treatment Court, Domestic Violence Court and Gambling Treatment Court, and Robert Schulman, M.D., a pediatrician with Promedicus Health Group.

For more information, call the UB School of Social Work Office of Continuing Education at 829-3939 or email sw-ce@buffalo.edu.