About Us

We offer a wide range of high quality of teaching and extra-curricular activities.

Members created the Midwest Consortium on Problem Gambling and Substance Abuse in 2003 with a focus on development and implementation of the Midwest Conference on Problem Gambling and Substance Abuse. The Consortium became a 501 (c)(3) organization in 2021. The Consortium initially included Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. Iowa and Oklahoma also joined the Consortium in the years to follow.

With support from the Addiction Technology Transfer Center the Consortium successfully submitted a grant to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Center for Substance Abuse Service Treatment (CSAT) for $50,000 to hold a regional conference on Problem Gambling and Substance Abuse.

H. Westley Clark, M.D., J.D., M.P.D., the Director of CSAT was the Keynote speaker at the 2003 Conference. While sitting at the head table he asked how we intended to fund the 2004 conference. Keith Spare suggested we might submit another grant request. Our expectation was that he would encourage us to submit another grant. It was an unexpected and joyful surprise when he offered us thirty thousand dollars annually without writing a grant.

The mission of the Midwest Consortium on Problem Gambling and Substance Abuse is to promote and unify education, science and services to improve the quality and availability of community-based problem gambling and substance abuse treatment services for individuals and families who need them.

The consortium is a collaborative approach representing treatment and prevention providers, educators, industry and public-policy makers who are focused on improving the lives of individuals and families affected by addiction.

Initiatives and programs are based on research findings and the general consensus of experts in the addiction field that, for most individuals, treatment and recovery work best in a community-based coordinated system of comprehensive services. Because no single treatment approach is effective for all persons, the Midwest Consortium supports the nation’s effort to provide multiple treatment options, evaluate treatment effectiveness and use evaluation results to enhance treatment and recovery approaches.

The consortium hosts an annual conference. The conference offers participants an opportunity to interact with a diverse community committed to making a difference and to learn from nationally recognized experts in the field. In addition, participants network with national and international educators and researchers to discover resources that enhance quality services for persons with problem gambling and substance abuse behaviors.

The most unique element of the Consortium and its annual conference is that the work of managing, and planning is the result of volunteer effort and tireless commitment from individuals from the member states. Until digital face to face conference calls became an option this was done via phone conferences.

In recent the consortium exercised the wisdom of employing a conference planner. This action lessened the load on Consortium members and further assured the quality and sustainability of the Consortium’s annual conference.

A key to the Consortiums success has been the affordability and accessibility of a regional conference that has included world class presenters. Further, the member states, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Iowa have provided scholarships to professionals from their states. Other entities have provided financial support that has been crucial to keeping registration costs manageable.

Finally, those who treat and work with problem gamblers and their families represent a small percentage of those who recognize problem and compulsive gambling as a cooccurring disorder on the addiction continuum. Attendees to the Consortium’s annual conference do not simply attend the conference to gather required CEUs. They come because of their own personal commitment to providing excellent services. In so doing they have become members of the Midwest Conference on Problem Gambling and Substance Abuse family. They attend the conference both to gain new knowledge but also, they come for support, hugs, renewal, the experience of comradery, and tasty food.