The Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling is a program of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and funded by the Maryland Department of Health’s Behavioral Health Administration. The center promotes healthy and informed choices regarding gambling and problem gambling through public awareness, training and education, prevention, technical assistance to the behavioral health care system, peer recovery support, research, and public policy. It does so by working closely with appropriate state stakeholders and bringing together experts from a variety of disciplines including psychiatry, medicine, epidemiology, social work, law, and others.
Problem Gambling Awareness Month, PGAM, held each March, is a grassroots public awareness and outreach campaign created and sponsored by the National Council on Problem Gambling to educate the public and ally with health care professionals on problem gambling.
The focus is to elicit discussions and to “have the conversation” about the risks of gambling, the signs of problem gambling, and the resources available nationally and here in Maryland to provide help, hope, and recovery for individuals and their families. The center works with providers, preventionists, and community-based organizations across the state to promote PGAM and spread the message of help and hope for problem gambling.
If you would like any problem gambling public awareness materials and giveaways to help spread this important message among the UMB/UMMS community and staff, please contact Mike Kafes mkafes@som.umaryland.edu or go to: https://www.mdproblemgambling.com/problem-gambling-awareness-month-2024/