Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

UNLV out front on addiction fight

UNLV professor Larry Ashley understands the lure of Sin City and how the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas' 24-hour lifestyle can lead people into all kinds of temptation.

He knows, because Ashley has dedicated most of his life to treating what he calls the "unglamour of sin."

An addiction specialist with more than 30 years of professional experience, Ashley is bringing national acclaim to UNLV's counseling department by developing programs to address the addictions the city often perpetuates, including the country's first academic program in compulsive gambling.

Last fall, the Association for Addiction Professionals honored UNLV's department of marriage, family and community counseling with its Organizational Achievement Award for its courses in addiction studies. UNLV is the first academic entity to win the award, considered the association's highest honor.

UNLV now offers three undergraduate programs and one graduate certificate in addiction studies. Students can minor in addiction treatment, addiction prevention or compulsive gambling and Ashley is now developing a Ph.D. program in problem gambling that he hopes to bring before the university Board of Regents by fall.

"This will be truly groundbreaking," Ashley said. "I'm not aware of any other programs."

Also in the fall, UNLV is hoping to be able to offer a practicum in addiction treatment for its graduate students that will allow community members to receive treatment at the university's Center for Individual, Couple and Family Counseling. The public clinic is not yet certified to handle substance abuse treatment, but it does do mental health assessments and offers family and individual counseling on a sliding scale, Colleen Peterson, director of the center, said.

In the more distant future, Ashley said he would like to see UNLV team with the University of Nevada School of Medicine to offer a joint medical degree and Ph.D. in psychiatry with a focus on addictions.

UNLV's courses on compulsive gambling counseling are currently the only such academic offerings in the country, and the university's addiction courses also go beyond what is offered by most institutions, said Mike Taleff, past president of the International Coalition of Addiction Studies Educators (INCASE). Taleff, an addictions counselor and professor in Hawaii, surveyed all 440 of the country's academic programs in drug and alcohol counseling two years ago.

UNLV's addiction programs are unique in that they tackle other addictions beyond substance abuse, such as gambling and eating disorders, Taleff said. Most universities only offer certificate programs in drug and alcohol treatment.

By branching out and acknowledging the vast range of addictions in today's society, UNLV is part of a larger paradigm shift within the mental health professions, said Taleff and executives with NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals and the National Council on Problem Gambling.

In the past, mental health professionals have defined addiction strictly in terms of chemical dependencies.

"UNLV is one of the leaders trying to break out of that constrained definition that all of us have," Taleff said.

People with addictive behavior often have more than one addiction and multiple issues in their life that may lead them toward compulsive behavior, Taleff said. And like diabetes or heart disease, its an affliction that often needs lifetime treatment and monitoring.

Ashley defines addiction as anything for which an addict would sell his or her "soul and body."

"There isn't a person on this planet who doesn't know someone who has struggled with an addiction," Ashley said.

Substance abuse, alcoholism, problem gambling and eating disorders are all "equal opportunity destroyers," Ashley said, and Las Vegas is an "ideal spot" to tackle those addictions.

UNLV now offers two courses specifically in compulsive gambling counseling, is about to add two courses in eating disorders and already has multiple courses in drug and alcohol treatment. Students minoring in addictions treatment also take several overview courses in treating addiction, in trauma and addiction and in professional issues facing addiction counselors.

About 75 to 80 students are currently enrolled in either the undergraduate minor or graduate addiction program, Ashley said, including students from psychology, counseling and criminal justice majors. The minor, however, is a good fit for most social science majors and Ashley is also trying to persuade students studying hotel management to make compulsive gambling their minor course.

UNLV also has a Student Organization of Addiction Professionals.

Most academic programs do not offer any real training in addiction counseling, Ashley said, and so counselors learn on the job in a a sort of "trial by fire."

The academic classes provide a better foundation and a deeper breadth of knowledge than the continuing education workshops usually offered, which leads to improved patient care, Ashley and Taleff said. Currently, most addiction counselors meet their certification requirements through workshops offered in the field, often at great expense, Ashley said.

With this type of coursework under their belts, students will be able to ask better questions and better assess individuals with addictions like compulsive gambling, Taleffa said.

Keith Whyte, executive director for the National Council on Problem Gambling, and Jennifer Ayers, assistant executive director for NAADAC, both said that increased academic offerings will improve and help professionalize the field of addiction counseling, especially in the area of problem gambling. Both organizations have been working to establish a core set of knowledge needed to work in the field and also support further certification requirements, such as those Nevada's Legislature enacted in 2003 to certify counselors of problem gamblers.

To be certified in Nevada, problem gambling counselors now must have at least a bachelor's degree in the social sciences, 60 hours of educational training and 2,000 hours of supervised counseling in addition to passing an exam, according to Nevada statutes. The additional requirements have created a rush to get counselors trained, Ashley said.

Most states, including Nevada, have mandated certificate and licensure requirements for substance abuse counselors for decades, but Nevada is one of only a few to mandate certification in problem gambling, Whyte and Ayers said.

Without certification requirements, anyone can "hang a shingle on their door" and "call themselves a counselor," Ayers said.

While training the field's future professionals, Ashley is also lobbying lawmakers for the need to devote more money to mental health and problem gambling. Ashley said he would like to see some of the money Gov. Kenny Guinn has recommended for those issues go toward the programs at UNLV, particularly to the clinic that offers direct patient care.

"There's a crying need for competent therapists," Ashley said. "That's my mission in life now."

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