This month's Special Series on Community Approaches to Addiction focuses on ways to bring addiction prevention and recovery beyond medical settings and into communities. Today, we feature the fourth in a series of interviews and op-eds with inspiring people who have led efforts to reduce the impact of addiction on their own communities. The Office of Problem Gambling Services, within the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, aims to prevent problem gambling and mitigate gambling-related harms across the Commonwealth. In this op-ed, Victor Ortiz, MSW, LADC I, CADC II, discusses the unique public health response this organization has taken to address problem gambling, informed by the principles of engagement, equity, and empowerment.
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