Counseling in African American Community Biblical Perspectives on Tough Issues

Part 1 ConfrontingAddictionsGambling AddictionSabrina D. Black is the founder and clinical director of Abundant Life Counseling Center, an outpatient mental health facility that emphasizes spiritual values. She is also director of the counseling ministry at Rosedale Park Baptist Church. She is a Limited Licensed Professional Counselor, Certified Addictions Counselor, and Certified Biblical Counselor with twelve years of experience in individual, family, and group counseling. She has degrees in psychology and counseling. She has expertise in the fields of gambling addiction, sexual addiction and sexual abuse, relational problems due to substance addiction, issues relating to clergy and ministry leaders, marital conflicts and communication, boundaries and spiritual growth, stress, anxiety, burnout, and anger management. She is an active member of the National Biblical Counselors Association, American Counseling Association, and the American Association of Christian Counselors. In addition to doing mental heath counseling, Black serves as adjunct faculty at several universities, is an overseas missionary, and is making a local and global impact in the world. She is a national and international speaker for conferences, retreats, and workshops. Black lives in Detroit, Michigan, with her husband, Warren José Black. They have a son, Kenyae, and two grandchildren, Armonte and Zari.The poster caught my attention: "You don''t have to do drugs to get hooked by a dealer. Compulsive gambling can be every bit as destructive. It''s not just cards either. It''s the track; it''s pull-tabs, the lottery, and every other kind of gambling. They can cost you your savings, your house, even your family. This is one addiction where the cops may not bust you, but the dealer might" (Minnesota Department of Human Services 1992). In 1976 approximately 1.1 million people in the United States were probable compulsive gamblers. This figure represented less than 1 percent of the population. Yet the mental health community did not officially diagnose and take seriously this excessive problem until 1980. That was the year that measurable characteristics for diagnosing gambling addiction were presented in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3d Edition (DSM-III 1980). How many individual lives and families do you suppose had been devastated by then? Yet more than twenty years later, and though many people have been awakened to the addictive cycle involved with gambling, the church is still asleep. The church has been lulled into thinking it is "those people out there," not the members of our own congregations. Those in bondage (including Christians) will com-promise their values and their biblical principles. They may even seek benevolence (money from the church) to pay their overdue bills as a bailout from financial devastation.This chapter will provide education and awareness of this escalating problem. It will also include information to equip the church to make a proper assessment and referral or to do an intervention.WHAT HARM CAN REALLY BE DONE?Many believe that gambling is the economic salvation of a city. Others argue that it will lead to degradation. Some rationalize that having more jobs, an increased tax base, and money for schools and community groups makes gambling a great opportunity. However, when we look at gains versus losses wherever gambling is prevalent, we see that the odds are never in the favor of the community or the individuals living there. Consider those across the country who have lost much and still believe they can parlay their last dollar into a dream. Consider the impact on Mabel, Donna, or the friends and family of Jihad.For the past nine weeks, except for the week that she was in the hospital for inflammatory arthritis, Mabel (not her real name) faithfully attended the Friday night bingo games. Most of the women in her auxiliary played. Since her husband''s death two years ago, she was lonely and tired of beingJune, Lee N. is the author of 'Counseling in African American Community Biblical Perspectives on Tough Issues' with ISBN 9780310240259 and ISBN 0310240255.