Harbour Pointe offers 4-6 weeks of intensive residential treament for the compulsive gambler.  Some clients may require more or less time, but that recommendation will be made by our clinical team as treatment progresses.

Should the client meet the criteria for residential treatment the following shall occur. Immediately following the evaluation/ assessment the client will begin to go through our admission process and shall be admitted into the treatment program immediatley.

After being admitted into the program, the client will be scheduled for an urgent assessment appointment with our psychiatrist. This appointment will determine if any medication would be needed to help with the level of depression. Often clients come to us already being diagnosed as bi-polar or ADHD and in fact,  an active compulsive gambling  addiction could create symptoms that would mirror these other disorders. We don't want someone being misdiagnosed and being put on medication for the rest of their life if indeed it is simply mirroring affects of the gambling addiction.

Following that appointment the client will partake in a battery of psychological testing. This testing includes MMPI, MCMI, Beck Inventory, Burns Depression and Anxiety. This will allow the clinical team to develop an individual treatment plan for the client.

During the first three weeks the client will participate primarily in individual therapy.  This will allow the clinical team the chance to explore the deeper underlying or "real issues" that have been fueling the gambling addiction over the years.  Again we are looking to not only treat the gambling but also the issues that may lie beneath the surface.  Groups (educational and peer), various forms of cognitive, expressive and adjunctive therapy sessions will also be a part of the clients daily schedule.  In addition, the client will receive yoga/meditation, deep tissue massage therapy, membership to Golds Gym, financial pressure relief group, career planning-if necessary, and gamblers anonymous meetings and some 12 step work.  At sometime during the clients treatment we will invite the family to enter the program for 2-3 days. Here the family will also receive individual therapy sessions, in addition to sessions with their loved one.

In the last week of therapy we will work on relapse prevention and schedule a farewell ceremony for the client. Our clinical team will also put together a very detailed aftercare plan in the clients home state so that recovery can continue.  Harbour Pointe will also remain in touch with the client at the 30day, 90 day, 180 day, 1year, 1 1/2 year and two year mark so that we may too continue to monitor our alumnis success.

Our residential program is unique in many ways in that we treat compulsive gambling exclusively and our primary emphasis is on an individualized treatment approach opposed to one that  focuses more on group work and one that may treat many addicts.  As addictions may be compared across the board we have learned over the years the treatment of gambling addiction has shown to be more successful by giving our clients individualized sessions.  Two thirds of their time spent at Harbour Pointe will consist of one on one sessions.  This equates to approximately 4-5 individual sessions per day.  This concept allows the staff and clinical team at Harbour Pointe to design a treatment plan that will fit the needs of each and everyone of our clients.  For this very reason alone, many of our clients travel from around the country and the world to recieve our treatment.

Our residential treatment program is limited to 8 beds at the present time, and should there be a waiting list for admission we greatly appreciate your patience.