Compulsive gambling consulting services

Professionals interested in becoming certified compulsive gambling counselors and/or integrating a compulsive gambling consulting service into an existing program can find expert help at the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery at Proctor Hospital and Advocate BroMenn Medical Center.


Thinking of integrating a compulsive gambling counseling service into your current program?
IIAR can help. The Institute has been treating persons with addictions and their family members since 1979. We have the first comprehensive, specialized gambling addiction treatment program in Illinois, established in 1993. Our trained staff of consultants can assist you in developing:
  • A program that will maximize third-party reimbursement
  • A DSM-IV-TR-based assessment tool
  • Admission and continued length of stay criteria based on the ASAM patient placement material
  • Financial assessment and treatment procedures
  • Follow-up/aftercare programs
  • A staff of certified gambling counselors

Your program will be reviewed by a specialized assessment team. Following the assessment of your program, the team will forward a proposal for negotiation and contract development.

Costs of the program development include ongoing consultation with the training team for up to one year following the implementation of your program. Program implementation will involve onsite training of staff and all materials needed to get the program up and running.

Counselor certification training goals

Upon completion of our gambling counselor certification training program, participants will be able to:
  • Satisfy the gambling-specific academic requirements of the American Compulsive Gambling Counselor Certification Board, Inc. and the Illinois Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Professional Certification Association.
  • Understand how to accurately assess/identify problem and pathological gambling.
  • Develop successful treatment plans for working with a gambler and his or her family.
  • Conduct a thorough financial assessment and develop effective financial treatment plans.
  • Conduct successful interventions with pathological gamblers and their significant others (families, friends, co-workers, employers, etc.).

For more information on how to set up gambling addiction treatment programs and/or become a certified gambling counselor, contact our Vice President of Ancillary Services, Rick Zehr, at eric.zehr@proctor.org or call 1-800-522-3784.

About our team

IIAR's compulsive gambling counselor certification team includes Pam Hillyard, Director of the Institute; and Rick Zehr, Vice President of Ancillary Services at Proctor Hospital.

Since 1995, the IIAR has provided varying levels of gambling training to more than a thousand professionals.

When organizations question how to start or integrate reimbursable pathological gambling treatment into existing services, the Institute's program development team has the answer. This team has developed assessment tools for pathological gambling and chemical dependency that one Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) surveyor proclaimed evidence of "best demonstrated practice" for JCAHO.

In addition to the assessment tools, the program development team helps a program develop admission, continued length of stay and discharge criteria; financial assessment and restitution plans; and clinical treatment plans.

If you are interested in receiving additional information on compulsive gambling counselor certification training or the gambling treatment program development package, call the IIAR at 1-800-522-3784 or write to Rick Zehr at Proctor Hospital, 5409 N. Knoxville Ave., Peoria, Illinois 61614.

The Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery has centers at the following locations: