Shame, Stigma, and Suicide: Understanding Risk in Problem Gambling
Includes a Live Web Event on 09/24/2025 at 11:30 AM (CDT)
-
Register
- General Registration - Free!
Join us on September 24, 2025 from 11:30 am-12:30 pm CT for a virtual training on Problem Gambling and Suicide with Ted Hartwell.
Behind the statistics on problem gambling lies a painful truth—those struggling at harmful levels face a greatly increased risk of suicide. Shame, debt, and silence often weigh heavily, while co-occurring challenges like mental health struggles and life stressors add to the burden. In this powerful session, attendees will gain insight into the real and often hidden connections between gambling-related harms and suicidality. Through both research and personal stories, presenter Ted Hartwell will shed light on the human side of this issue, breaking down stigma and opening the door to meaningful prevention. Together, we will explore practical ways to reduce shame, foster hope, and support recovery.
Objectives:
1. Attendees will learn about the processes and factors that contribute to the connection between suicidality and problem gambling.
2. Attendees will learn about several anecdotes that represent real-world examples of these processes.
3. Attendees will learn about possible pathways for reducing stigma and shame as preventative measures.
Live and On Demand CE Pending Approval.
This training is sponsored in whole or in part by the Illinois Department of Human Services Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery.
ICPG workshops and trainings provide CEU (continuing education units) through the Illinois Certification Board based on approval for individual trainings.
The State of Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Division of Professional Regulation (IDFPR) has approved all ICPG workshops and trainings as a Registered Social Worker CE Sponsor. This program is recognized as providing CE hours for: LSW/LCSW and LPC/LCPC under IDFPR license #159.001302.
The International Problem Gambling and Gaming Certification Organization recognizes ICPG as a preferred partner for workshops and trainings in line with the ICGC Level I & II.
Ted Hartwell
Director of Storytelling and Development NVCPG
Nevada Council on Problem Gambling
Mr. Hartwell has a Master’s degree in Anthropology from Texas Tech University and in 2023 he retired from a 32-year position on the research faculty of the Desert Research Institute (DRI) of the Nevada System of Higher Education to become the Executive Director of the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling (NVCPG). In 2025 he stepped back from that role and now serves as the organization's Director of Storytelling and Development. He is a longtime member of the National Council on Problem Gambling.
While at DRI, Mr. Hartwell was the Principal Investigator of a study examining the impact of problem gambling in Nevada tribal communities. He is in long-term recovery from gambling disorder himself, and has promoted awareness, prevention, and treatment of problem gambling for the NVCPG for more than a decade. He has spoken publicly and personally on this issue on many occasions and is dedicated to humanizing and illuminating the illness of disordered gambling. He provides annual lectures on this topic for the UNLV Boyd School of Law Gaming Regulation and the University of Utah Gaming Regulation classes, as well as for many other departments within the higher education system.
Mr. Hartwell was a regular participant for many years in the UNLV International Gaming Institute’s Responsible Gaming Ambassador training program for Las Vegas Sands Corporation and has consulted to MGM Resorts International and the US-Japan Business Council in their efforts to develop business related to the first Integrated Casino Resorts in Japan. He introduced the NCPG’s youth gambling awareness and family gambling awareness programs into the Clark County School District in Nevada and he has recently developed educational programs for local schools on the topics of video game awareness and student-athlete gambling awareness (SAGA). In 2023, he successfully secured an NFL-sponsored Agility Grant for the NCPG through the National Council to implement SAGA in several Nevada high schools. Mr. Hartwell has served at the pleasure of four Governors on the Nevada State Advisory Committee on Problem Gambling since November 2012. He was the 2014 Shannon L. Bybee Award recipient for his continuing work on advocacy, outreach, and research on the issue of problem gambling. In 2021, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Council on Problem Gambling.
Mr. Hartwell lives in Las Vegas, where he is also a professional cellist with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, a devoted husband to a recent Russian immigrant, a past soccer and volleyball coach, and the proud father of a precocious 20-year-old daughter and three cats.
