We mourn the Jan. 2 passing of our dear colleague and friend, Matricia “Matt” Green, LAC, CCGC, who provided compulsive gambling treatment services at CAHS for 26 years, until April 2022.
Green served as a member of CAHS’ first Board of Directors and helped establish the agency’s gambling treatment services. She was a featured presenter at numerous state and national conferences and was sought nationwide for her unique knowledge and expertise.
“Matt’s groundbreaking legacy lives on at CAHS through our gambling treatment services. She was a passionate advocate for her clients and was a great friend of the agency,” said CAHS Executive Director Jan Laughinghouse, PhD, LCSW-BACS, LAC, CCS.
Kyllie Jenkins, CAC, CCGC, succeeded Green as coordinator of CAHS’ problem gambling treatment program and remembered her long-time mentor as a “pioneer.”
“I was fortunate to learn from this great pioneer of gambling treatment. Our daily plan was simple — help the clients anytime they needed us. I learned everything I know about gambling treatment from Ms. Matt Green, and now we honor her memory with our work every day,” said Jenkins.
Green was known for making her personal phone number available for anyone to call because she knew that gambling compulsion doesn’t keep hours, and individuals often needed help in the wee hours of the morning after a night of gambling losses.
Green treated individuals and families alike, knowing that gambling doesn’t just affect the gambler, but also affects everyone around them.
She accommodated clients day and night in individual, group, and family counseling sessions. She also developed a program to help prevent gambling among adolescents. She constantly provided education for healthcare workers, physicians, attorneys, and judges about CAHS’ treatment services for problem gambling.
In an April 2016 CAHS newsletter story, the wife of a client credited Green with helping her reconcile with her husband and for helping her children reconcile with their father who had lost everything to gambling. Read that story here.
Green was a constant voice in the community, often appearing on radio and television to talk about the issues associated with gambling. She spearheaded the development of multi-media campaigns that included educational materials for clients, social media posts, billboards, advertisements in newspapers, bus shelters, and movie theaters, as well as advertisements and interviews on radio and television.
“I deal with compulsive gamblers every day, and I’ve seen families torn apart and more suicides,” Green said on Louisiana Public Broadcasting’s “Louisiana Public Square” television show that aired in March 2019.
“We have a serious problem in this state. A lot of the problems you see about crime, it’s about gambling, and we need to bring it to the forefront and make sure treatment for problem gambling is part of any package to expand gambling in Louisiana,” said Green. Watch Green’s comments at timecode 43:30 here.
One of Green’s biggest advocates was Randy Livingston, former NBA and LSU star basketball player, who battled gambling addiction for nearly 10 years.
“I would go on the casino boats at 17 years old,” Livingston recalled in a January 2022 interview with BRProud television. “My career earning was probably two or three million dollars, but whatever I earned, I fed my gambling addiction.”
Livingston found treatment and recovery at CAHS through Green’s help, and he’s been in recovery for more than five years. In April 2023, Livingston was featured in a CAHS short documentary, talking about his career and battles with gambling. Watch Livingston’s testimony here.
We at Capital Area Human Services miss “Matt” every day, and we continue to honor her legacy of service every day.