Many of us gamble every day. We gamble on the stock market, property, even negotiating whether to cross the street.

“We take chances all the time, so it becomes a regular part of life,” said Bernie Storms, director of Family Guidance Center’s Addiction Treatment Services. “That’s why when it slides into compulsive gambling, it’s really difficult to recognize at first.”

That uncertainty can make treatment for gambling addiction difficult. But according to information on the Missouri Department of Mental Health Web site, treatment for gambling addiction can be highly successful.

Graphs on the Web site, www.dmh.mo.gov/ada/progs/gambling.htm, show that after four weeks of treatment for compulsive gambling, there are significant reductions in the number of days gambled and average dollars spent per week.

Family Guidance will offer compulsive gambling counseling in St. Joseph in a couple of weeks. That’s when Lori Eck, compulsive gambling counselor, will move from the Family Guidance office in Maryville, Mo., to St. Joseph. Persons needing counseling can still call the Family Guidance Addiction Treatment Services offices.

Ms. Eck said treatment for gambling addiction takes a number of approaches. It’s often a mix of group and individual counseling and other forms of counseling therapy.

“It does affect the whole family, so it’s important to pull the family into the recovery process,” she said.

The Web site is effective because it gives encouragement that treatment works, she added.

“It gives a person hope. They can look and see how treatment works, and graphs show that it does help,” she said. “When you’re at the point of losing your house and family and you’d like to die, and you see there is a light at the end of the tunnel, this just shows that there is hope.”

To contact Family Guidance’s gambling counseling services, call 364-1862. For Gamblers Anonymous, call 233-4077 or (816) 262-3544.

Alonzo Weston can be reached

at alonzow@npgco.com.