Special
Features / March 2007
Beyond the Company Policy
 Mia Moran-Cooper
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By Pat Lawrence
Mia Moran-Cooper doesn’t hold to any outdated stereotypes about gamblers. Some of the most charming, interesting women she’s met are gamblers. Unfortunately, by the time she meets them, many are fighting to regain the life, love and self-respect they have lost to a problem they never saw coming. It’s a problem she has taken to heart.
Mia is the Executive Director of The Problem Gamblers Help Network of West Virginia. In August of 2000, she answered the first phone call to the help hotline. Two years later, the successful programs she developed to help gamblers get quality assessment and treatment had become models for other states addressing problem gamblers. By 2006, she was elected to the Board of Directors for the National Council on Problem Gambling in Washington, DC and selected to serve as one of 3 American delegates to the International Think Tank on Problem Gambling in New Zealand. This month, Mia will present her state’s program at a conference in Canada.
Because of her work, Mia was selected ‘West Virginia Social Worker of the Year 2006” by the WV chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.
A Charleston native, Mia graduated from Marshall with a degree in Social work and Spanish as a second major. “I was going to save the Spanish speaking world!” Someone else got that job first, so Mia worked in banking and sales before taking a position as a worker’s comp rehabilitation counselor and later finding her niche in marketing the psychiatric services of Highland Hospital.
“When I was approached with the offer-director of a brand new, state wide organization to help problem gamblers-I was interested in the title, intrigued by the ‘new’ and excited about the ‘statewide’. I just didn’t think there were many gamblers in West Virginia.” She took the job.
The position quickly became a passion. Initially, she was the one answering the phone and matching counselors to callers geographically was a challenge. Now five professional staff members handle calls, supported by about a hundred statewide counselors with intensive training about problem gambling. Callers have an appointment for help before they hang up. They get a self help booklet, a pre-appointment reminder call and a post appointment follow up call. Mia’s program has become nationally recognized for success in creating public awareness and treatment. She has presented workshops at dozens of professional conferences and for state clubs and organizations. The program has been featured in over 400 newspaper stories, radio and television shows, and national magazines and Mia has been interviewed by The New York Times, People Magazine and AARP Magazine. Since 2004, Mia has served as Chair for National Problem Gambling Awareness Week Committee. She has learned a lot about problem gamblers and even more about what can be done to help them.
The national estimate of problem gamblers is 2-3 percent of the population. If that holds true in West Virginia, the number could be 30,000. More than half are women.
With their permission, Mia shares the stories of Ann, a doctor’s wife who lost her husband and $300,000; Jane, a grandmother who stole $250,000 to support her Bingo habit and spent her 50th birthday in prison; Sandy the fourth grade teacher who lost all her savings and was left with 47 cents, and Pam from St. Alban’s, former Vice President of a credit union who kept raising her own credit limit, ultimately embezzling $34,000.
Then there are the women who didn’t gamble, whose lives were destroyed by husbands that spent their savings, pawned their jewelry, lost their home, stole their identity and ran up crushing debts in their wife’s name.
According to Mia, gambling can be an escape from unhappiness, boredom, or stress for women. It’s a socially acceptable form of recreation and entertainment. Often a life event, like divorce, death of a partner or retirement, can move a woman from social gambling to problem gambling. “And, today a woman gambler has access to her own line of cash, credit cards and bank loans.” Older women may be particularly vulnerable. Seniors are one of the fastest growing groups of gamblers and gambling is a social activity that offers excitement in safe, friendly surroundings.
Nationally, Americans spend more gambling than on all other entertainment combined. Mia says, “Plus, we’ve ‘normalized’ gambling. Who hasn’t tucked a lottery ticket into a favorite child’s birthday card? In 1988, gambling was only legal in two states. Now all but two have some form of gambling.”
One of Mia’s goals is for health professionals to screen for problem gambling as they do for domestic abuse, substance abuse and alcoholism. “It can be done with three basic questions.”
Problem gamblers suffer enormous social, economic and psychological consequences. And, so do their children, their spouses, their families and their employers.
Mia says no one should wait until they lose everything. “Help is here, now. One call, and a woman can begin to get her life back.”
To contact Mia Moran-Cooper, call 304-344-2163. For help, call the 25 hour help hotline 1-800-GAMBLER. For more information, visit problemgamblers.net.
When Life’s a Gamble
March 5-11 is Problem Gambling Awareness Week. The National Council on Problem Gambling, the Problem Gamblers Help Network of West Virginia and numerous state and local groups, organizations and individuals will be shining a light on problem gamblers; the damage they do, the help that is available.
The NCPG is the national advocate for programs and services to assist problem gamblers and their families.
The Problem Gamblers Help Network of West Virginia, funded by the WV Lottery and administered by the WVDHHR, is a program created by the West Virginia Legislature to identify and provide services to problem gamblers and their families.
Research indicates 2%-3% of the US population, from 6 to 9 million Americans will have a gambling problem in any given year, yet only a fraction seek treatment or recovery programs. For the past three years, over 54% of calls received by the Problem Gamblers Help Network were from or about women who gambled too much. Half of the problem gamblers who received help from the program in the last year were women.
Treatment can start with the telephone helpline where private, individual counseling can be arranged and self-help materials can be obtained.
For help in any state, call the 24-hour confidential helpline, 1-800-Gambler (1-800-426-2547), or visit problemgamblers.net or www.ncpgambling.org.
Copyright © 2007 A Woman's View. All rights reserved.
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