March 2018 Newsletter

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Faces Of Homelessness Changing

That was Burchell’s response to the question, “What brought you to the Mission?” He has an irresistible, repeated, irrational impulse to gamble. That is present tense. It is a continual addiction that has to be managed. He returned to Roseburg directly from an inpatient, gambling treatment center in Salem. By law one percent of Oregon Lottery funds are allocated for problem gambling treatment. There are 2.7% of Oregonians 18 years and older that meet the criteria for being current disordered gamblers. From Burchell’s experience in treatment and attending Gambler’s Anonymous meetings, the lottery is more addictive than casinos just because, he said, “It is available everywhere, every block. I am really confined to where I can go. I have to plan my walk to work.” He is back to work and now living independently.

Burchell is a third generation gambler. His grandfather started out as a prospector and ended up as a gambler. He said, “All the guys in my family gamble, but my father did it as a living. It was a natural thing.” Burchell started out with marbles, playing for keeps. He had a bag with a pull string for his treasure. He had to stash it on the way home from school, so his uncle, who raised him, would not find it. His uncle was a gambler turned pastor, that did not want his nephew to grow up the same way. And the abuse of alcohol went along with the abuse of gambling. He said, “When my father cycled rich, he would call for me to live with him. A child could be in the card room until 9pm. And I watched.” That culture was in his family, giving him considerable exposure while growing up. He believed that he had it all figured out and could beat the odds. It consumed his life. He said, “There was this anxiety that has always live with me, not able to look into the future more than a week or a month. I had to give it up. The affliction is there, the madness, the addiction in my head.”