A Supplemental Guide for Addressing Problematic Gambling Among Veterans
A Supplemental Guide for Addressing Problematic Gambling Among Veterans - Maintaining Independence and Sobriety through Systems Integration, Outreach and Networking (MISSION) is a supplemental publication for Veterans with gambling disorder or subclinical gambling-related problems who are enrolled in MISSION-VA. This guidebook was built upon experience and support by grants from the Veteran’s Administration Human Subjects Research and Development (VA Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (Grant #QUE 15-284; VA HSR&D; Grant #1 I01 HX002701-01A2) and National institute of Mental Health Grant #1R01MH128904-01), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Grant #1H79TI085464. We thank the funding agencies for supporting this work. This work has also involved a great deal of interagency collaborations with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, as well as other agencies and entities.
Maintaining Independence and Sobriety Through Systems Integration, Outreach, and Networking-Criminal Justice (MISSION-CJ) VA Edition and MISSION-Vet are designed to help Veterans address their mental health, substance use, criminal legal issues, and their social determinants of health (SDOH) needs. All Veterans enrolled in MISSION programs have COD, and some additionally struggle with gambling disorder or subclinical gambling-related problems which do not meet the full criteria for gambling disorder. While MISSION is not a problem gambling/gambling disorder intervention per se, it is critical for the MISSION teams to screen and identify problem gambling patterns/gambling disorder among the Veterans on their caseloads. Gambling-related challenges might exacerbate mental health and substance use symptoms and contribute to financial and/or housing instability or involvement in criminal activity. When problematic gambling/gambling disorder is not addressed, recovery from mental health and substance use disorders and criminal involvement is more difficult and the quality of Veterans’ lives can suffer.