Spotlight Series | Heritage Behavioral Health Center

Located in Central Illinois, Heritage provides comprehensive community-based services to treat the most serious behavioral disorders.

Teagan Shull joins the show to discuss how Heritage places an emphasis on screening for Gambling Disorders and how Heritage responds to the increase in identifying and serving gambling disorders within the communities they serve.

More can be found at: https://heritagenet.org/gambling

Gateway Foundation Gambling Treatment

Call Gateway Foundation: 855-723-0963

Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER

wagerdanger@gatewayfoundation.org

Transcript:

WAGER DANGER EPISODE 13: SPOTLIGHT SERIES – HERITAGE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CENTER

Host: Shane Cook

Hey, Shane cook with wager danger. We’re on the campus at heartland community college today with other gambling service providers here talking about the dangers of problem gambling or the awareness signs to look for when it comes to disordered gambling. So joining us here today is Tegan Shawl from Heritage. Tegan, welcome to the show. 

Guest: Teagan Shull

Hi, thanks for having me. 

Host: Shane Cook

Absolutely. It was a pleasure meeting you today. Can you tell us a little bit about heritage and the agency and what it is you do there? 

Guest: Teagan Shull

Yeah, so we are a behavioral healthcare center, so we do everything from mental health services to substance use services, pretty much anything that an individual may need. We have some programs that we offer for it. My role there is I work with our mental health juvenile justice program and our gambling program. 

Host: Shane Cook

Okay. That is an interesting pairing. Do you see a lot of similarities or crossover with those two areas? 

Guest: Teagan Shull

A lot in terms of problem thinking in terms of that, so there’s some crossover there, but really it was put together because both areas were my interests, so they kind of had two openings and wanted me to take both of them, so kind of put it together. 

Host: Shane Cook

Okay, and how long have you been with Heritage? 

Guest: Teagan Shull

Almost two years. 

Host: Shane Cook

Two years, and it’s down in the Danville area? 

Guest: Teagan Shull

No, Decatur. 

Host: Shane Cook

Decatur. 

Okay. 

For some reason, I was stuck on Danville, but Decatur is a little more central. It’s actually halfway between here and Springfield. And you’ve been in that area for. 

Guest: Teagan Shull

A while, so lived there for about seven years prior to working at Heritage. Worked in Springfield at a family guidance center. So another substance use treatment center. So kind of been working in central Illinois for a while now. 

Host: Shane Cook

Sure. 

Okay. In terms of the demographics in central Illinois, have you noticed a rise in gambling services being sought, or people are more aware of it? Or do you feel like it’s still relatively on the front end of what could potentially be a large wave of providing services for people in the state of Illinois? 

Guest: Teagan Shull

So I feel like a lot of people that we are coming across in our screening events and things like that are kind of becoming more aware of what gambling all entails, because there’s still the large conception that gambling is just casinos, slot machines, things like that. So it doesn’t necessarily capture the online gambling that’s going on or other forms of gambling that’s even, like, affecting our adolescents, things like that. So I definitely love the state’s new screening tool because it very much lays out exactly what gambling is, which really helps with people understanding when we’re screening, what the word gambling is, which really is getting us more individuals that are at risk for a problem gambling issue. 

Host: Shane Cook

Yeah. So interesting you bring up the new screening tool. That’s not something that we’ve actually talked about on the show here, but you’ve provided a great little segue to do. So do you mind just walking the listener through that screen, what it’s entailed, what it entails, what its intent really is. 

Guest: Teagan Shull

So the state moved from its original, I think it was three questions screening to what we call an Espert model screen. Don’t ask me what Espert stands for because I do not know what the acronym stands for, but the idea behind a screen is it’s supposed to be very easy to follow and use and it really is so that they can push it out to all the different healthcare providers and things like that. So pretty much anyone can pick up the screen and be able to execute. Giving a screen, it’s very user-friendly. It gets to the bottom of what’s kind of going on and it even includes how you kind of judge the risk, whether it’s low, medium, or high risk for a problem gambling issue. 

Host: Shane Cook

Right? Yeah, thanks for running through that, because I think it’s important that people understand and this is actually available on the state’s Are You Really Winning website where you can go out and you can actually self-screen, which will lead you through a series of questions and then provide if, at the end of that screening, you desire to have a conversation with somebody, there is contact information in a way for an individual to then reach out and talk to somebody a little bit further or to be directed to a local gambling disorder service provider in your local community. So thanks for doing that. It dawned on me that we had never really talked about that screening tool and gave us a great opportunity to do so. 

I have been asking each of the other guests that have been on today’s show is there one thing that you would point to as being very impactful for you personally in providing gambling disorder services? 

Guest: Teagan Shull

Just how kind of pervasive it is? Oftentimes we don’t really realize just how big of an effect it has on individuals. But I also provide gambling counseling, so I’m not just doing the outreach portion. And so with a lot of my patients, one, it’s varied, it affects anyone and everyone. It does not know any sort of demographical bounds by any means. I have patients that are in their sixties, I have patients that are in their twenties, I have African American patients of all gender and races, everything like that. So it definitely does not prioritize who it is that is affected by it, but it definitely affects everyone very similarly and it’s just devastating. 

And oftentimes they are not getting the help they need before it becomes as devastating as it is because there’s such a misnomer around it that it’s not an addiction, that it shouldn’t be an addiction because it’s legal, it’s not a substance you’re putting in your body, things like that. So that’s the biggest kind of thing that I wish we could kind of get through that. Just because you’re not putting something in your body doesn’t mean it’s not affecting you the same as any other substance and things like that. I definitely work with a lot of people that were in recovery from either drugs or alcohol and now have a gambling use disorder and they’re like, well, this is harder to kick than alcohol was, or whatever the substance is. 

So it’s definitely important to kind of do that outrage and let people know that there is help available in kind of what to look for in terms of if they do have an issue with problem gambling. 

Host: Shane Cook

Yeah, well, certainly appreciate your work in this field and I trust that on some level you find it personally rewarding. 

Guest: Teagan Shull

Yes, I do. 

Host: Shane Cook

And that keeps you motivated, keeps you going. And again, I appreciate you agreeing to hop on the show today. 

Guest: Teagan Shull

Of course. Thanks for having me. 

Host: Shane Cook

Yeah. Tell us a little bit more about yourself and about heritage and the great work you’re doing in Decatur. 

We love hearing from you. So please take a moment to like, share and comment on our podcast. You can reach out to us directly via email at wagerdanger@gatewayfoundation.org. Look for us on Facebook and Twitter at Recovergateway, on LinkedIn at gatewayfoundation or through our website gatewayfoundation.org. Wager Danger is supported through funding in whole or in part through a grant from the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Division of Substance Use Prevention and Recover. And remember, recovery is a lifelong process. If you or a family member is struggling with a gambling problem, call Gateway at 844-975-3663 and speak with one of our counselors for a confidential assessment.