FEMALE GAMBLERS

WOMEN AND RECOVERY IN ARIZONA A BRIEF HISTORY
September 1999
Written by Paula Burns

GA started in Arizona twenty-six thiry five years ago, in April 1973. For the first 18 years, a few women walked through the doors..... and left. By their own admission, the men didn't quite know what to do with them. The women were told they hadn't gambled long enough; they hadn't lost enough to be real gamblers. "I've tipped a cocktail waitress more than you've lost in your whole gambling career!"one said. They didn't play real games. "Any monkey can pull a handle. Real gamblers play poker, horses or bet on sports. Their tears and their stories were ridiculed. They were "hit" on, "Let's go for coffee..., at my place, baby.." They didn't stay. The men said, "Women just don't seem to have what it takes to stay in recovery."In Jan. 1991, Marilyn L. stayed. She had many years of AA experience, and she knew 12 step programs worked. She was determined to stop gambling.She vowed she would start a women preferred meeting in Phoenix. She felt women needed a place to feel safe- where women's issues could be freely felt; where others understood how and why you gambled- where tears could flow and no one would be more interested in your body than your therapy. She probably would have made it in the "men's" meeting. But she was committed to the women who couldn't. In June of 1992, four women met in Marilyn L's home. The next few years the meeting struggled, but persisted. On a few occasions Marilyn sat home alone with her coffee pot. Usually there were two or three. Then five. Finally they out-grew her home and rented a room in a church. Meanwhile, one of the men who answered the GA hotline, Don H., felt women did gamble differently than men; their personalities were different than most male gamblers; and maybe they should talk to a woman who understood. He referred women to women. In 1993 as the Arizona Council on Compulsive Gambling was forming, the women who called that Hotline were also referred to women.They were not encouraged to go only to a women preferred group, but to go to mixed groups as well. The women went together to the male dominated meetings. And so it grew.

As Executive Director of the Arizona Council on Compulsive Gambling, Inc., Don Hulen talked to literally thousands of women who called the hotline. He began to write down the differences he noticed in what the women told him as compared to the men. It seemed like gender differences and he first wrote about it as such. As time went on, it became apparent that it was not just a gender difference. Many men called the hotline with the same characteristics as most of the women gamblers. Today, the article Differences in Types of Gamblers in Arizona is widely distributed and a major piece for the council in educating those who call.

The second full time employ was added at the A. C. C. G. in 1997: a woman (Paula Burns) to answer the hotline, and in cooperation with the woman GA Trustee, work with women throughout the state. Today Phoenix area has many meetings. Of those, three are women preferred meetings. Women make up about an estimated 50% of the fellowship.

(A little more History) Fifty GA women and forty seven GA men attended a GA mini-conference in Phoenix Sept. 18, 1999. (16 Gam-Anon women and one man also attended.)

 

 

Suggestions on this page are from Arizona Council on Compulsive Gambling, Inc. Based on experience in Arizona

SUGGESTIONS FOR GETTING WOMEN INTO RECOVERY AND KEEPING THEM THERE

 ENCOURAGE WOMEN WITH RECOVERY IN YOUR AREA TO START WOMEN PREFERRED MEETINGS

Many women who are successful in meetings where men predominate are action gamblers themselves. They may not realize the difference women-only meetings can make to the Escape gambler. With more knowledge about the differences in types of gamblers, they may become committed to helping women in general stay in recovery and come to realize the roll a women-preferred meeting can play.

REFER WOMEN TO WOMEN

  • Refer women gamblers to women resource people whenever possible
  • Network statewide with GA women so women calling the hotline from anywhere in the state can be referred to a woman active in GA. Give her the name of a woman to call who goes to the meeting she plans to go to.
  • Determine what type of gambler she is (Escape or Action) and refer her to the ACCG website to read the section on "Types of Gamblers." Follow up by sending hard copy items if she does not have a computer.
  • Prepare the escape gambler (95% of women in our area) for what she will experience at her first GA meeting. Put the GA combo book in historical perspective if she is an Escape gambler so she will know why some of it seems to describe the opposite of her character.
  • Try to send her to a GA room where they will not have her answer the 20 questions alone in front of everyone, but in a round-robin fashion or one on one. Action gamblers may need humility, but narcissism and egotism are not characteristics of Escape gamblers and she (or he) usually needs empowerment, not humility.
  • Link women to other women on the web by referring to A. C. C. G. Women's Page which links to Women Helping Women newsletter.

WORK WITH AREA GA TRUSTEE TO KEEP AWARE OF MEETINGS STATEWIDE

DEVELOP WOMEN TO WOMEN SEMINARS

SEND THE SHOW ON THE ROAD STATEWIDE

ENLIST WOMEN'S CENTERS ETC. AS RESOURCES FOR REPLACING GAMBLING

ENCOURAGE COUNSELORS TO HAVE LOW COST WOMEN'S SUPPORT GROUPS This is especially important in areas where there are no women in recovery and can be a stepping stone toward starting a GA group in their area.

REFER ESCAPE GAMBLERS TO CODA There are CoDA meetings in many areas where there are no GA meetings. Most Escape gamblers have codependency issues.

 

 

 

We welcome your comments and questions: azccg@azccg.org  

The Arizona council is a proud affiliate of the National Council on Problem Gambling, Inc.
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