Mar 18, 2026
Ph.D. program guides Hawley in raising national voice in problem gambling
When Carolyn Hawley, Ph.D., first wrote a grant proposal on youth gambling, she didn’t expect it to define her career.
In fact, she didn’t even get the funding.
At the time, gambling disorder wasn’t widely recognized as a behavioral health issue. Schools didn’t want to address it. Agencies didn’t see it as a disability. Federal funders weren’t sure where it fit.
But the questions raised in that unfunded proposal wouldn’t let her go.
Today, Hawley – a 2006 alum of VCU’s Ph.D. in Health Related Sciences Program within the College of Health Professions and professor of rehabilitation counseling – is a national leader in problem gambling research, policy and program development. She has secured significant funding, helped build statewide infrastructure for prevention and treatment and expanded how behavioral health professionals are trained to screen for gambling disorders.
It all began in a doctoral classroom.
A Ph.D. built for systems change
In 1998, Hawley came to VCU after working in brain injury rehabilitation in Milwaukee. She loved clinical work, but she wanted the broader impact of program development, research, leadership and systems change.
The VCU program offered that, along with an emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration. “It opens doors,” she said. “It allows you to build programs, conduct research and influence systems.”
Building on her earlier rehabilitation work, her dissertation examined how a client or patient’s disability benefits progress over time. More specifically, she studied how individuals who left work due to injury often moved from private disability insurance to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), rarely returning to employment.
What she discovered was that fewer than 1% of those individuals ever leave their disability benefits and go back to their jobs.
Her research reinforced the core rehabilitation principle that employment is about more than income. “Work gives us purpose. It gives us identity. It connects us,” said Hawley, noting the experience sharpened her ability to think at the systems level. “When people lose that, they lose much more than a paycheck.”
The grant that didn’t get funded
In a doctoral grant-writing course, Hawley and her faculty mentor brainstormed potential proposals. Gambling came up almost casually.
“At first I thought, this isn’t a real thing,” she said. “But when I started looking at the data, I realized this is absolutely a real thing.”
She wrote a federal proposal focused on youth gambling prevention. She gathered data and reached out to schools, but immediately faced pushback.
Some schools said it wasn’t an issue. Others said they lacked time or resources. Gambling disorder – though included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – was explicitly excluded from the Americans with Disabilities Act, reinforcing stigma and limiting recognition in policy spaces.
Although that proposal wasn’t funded, Hawley discovered a gap that couldn’t be ignored.
Seeing what others missed
While working in brain injury rehabilitation, Hawley had treated patients with co-occurring substance use disorders. Many worked in casino environments. None were screened for gambling disorder.
That realization became a turning point. Years later, Hawley presented on gambling to substance use treatment providers in Virginia. A colleague called her afterward to share a story about a client who continued to relapse into alcohol abuse in a decade of treatment. Based on Hawley’s message, the practitioner screened the client for gambling disorder.
“He screened high risk,” Hawley said. “And when she asked why he’d never mentioned it, he said, ‘You never asked.’”
The gambling had been driving the relapses.
For Hawley, the moment crystallized a systemic blind spot. Behavioral addictions were hiding in plain sight.
Building a field in Virginia
Hawley helped establish the early iteration of what became the nonprofit Virginia Council on Problem Gambling. She developed partnerships with the Virginia Lottery, brought national researchers to the state and began building awareness infrastructure from the ground up.
She later completed a fellowship at McGill University’s International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors, deepening her expertise and expanding her national network.
Back in Virginia, she secured funding to expand helpline services, prevention programming and treatment capacity. Today, she is working to formalize and expand the Virginia Partnership for Gaming and Health, housed within the Department of Rehabilitation Counseling, into an interdisciplinary center with a robust focus on conducting cutting-edge research that is critically needed in the field.
Helpline contacts have grown dramatically in recent years – an increase of more than 2,000%. Hawley presents that statistic carefully.
“I’m very cautious about how I present data,” she said, echoing learnings from her Ph.D. program. “It has to be evidence-based.”
She distinguishes between overall call volume and intake calls, avoiding sensationalism while still acknowledging concern – particularly among young men, who represent a growing share of high-risk contacts but are less likely to enter treatment.
That gap between help-seeking and treatment engagement is now one of her key research questions.
The Ph.D. effect
Hawley credits the Ph.D. program not only with teaching research methods, but with shaping how she approaches problems.
“You learn to analyze systems. To ask better questions. To look at data carefully,” she said.
Equally important was the program’s interdisciplinary design. Studying alongside physical therapists, occupational therapists, gerontologists, nurses and physicians broadened her perspective beyond counseling alone.
“It gives you a bigger picture,” she said. “You learn each other’s language. That’s critical when you’re trying to build something new.”
Now, as a faculty member and doctoral mentor, she brings that same lens to her students. Several Ph.D. candidates have begun incorporating gambling-related data into their dissertations.
Today, Hawley plays a leading role in shaping conversations around gambling policy, prevention and treatment, as she influences how professionals are trained and how systems respond as access to gambling expands through online platforms and sports betting.
The Ph.D. program and working in an academic environment positioned her to lead that change.
“If you love learning,” she said, “there’s no better career.”