Ygam’s ‘Mindful Resilience’ workshops have been validated by a Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) evaluation, one of its partners in the programme, showing a positive response from participants.

The RGC reported that 91% of participants in the workshops rated the programme as ‘good’ or ‘very good’.

Around two-thirds of participants – which included GPs and nurses, among other healthcare professionals – also stated that they had begun implementing lessons from the workshops into day-to-day practices.

Mindful Resilience was launched in September 2020 as a joint-initiative of Ygam, the RGC, Betknowmore UK and the University of Bournemouth, with the objective of training healthcare professionals on gambling addiction treatment, and ran until 2022.

Linda Scollins Smith, Director of Programmes at Ygam, said: “The findings of this evaluation are encouraging and a positive step in addressing the need for better understanding of gaming and gambling harms within the health care sector.

“Th..

Using data from GambleAware, the relationship between mental health and gambling harms has shown new and revealing links between mental health and betting.

Studies by Alma Economics – which used the gambling harm education group’s, Annual GB Treatment and Support Survey.1 – found that there is a ‘significant link’ between higher rates of gambling harms and worse mental health.

It showed that a one unit increase in Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) 2 score increased the probability of someone having a diagnosed mental health condition by 3%.

For example, the group detailed, an individual with a PGSI score of zero has a 22% probability of having a mental health diagnosis, while an individual with a PGSI score of eight has a 41% probability of having a mental health condition.

GambleAware Chief Executive, Zoë Osmond, said: “The relationship between gambling and mental health is significant for medical practitioners and gambling support organisations, as it can influence the ty..

GambleAware has initiated an application process to protect the funding of gambling harm prevention, support and treatment projects and programmes across the UK.

The initiative is required as the funding of gambling harm prevention projects/programmes enters a transition period from a voluntary to a statutory levy – established as a guaranteed outcome of the Gambling Review.

Stakeholders were notified that “the Gambling Commission and GambleAware have agreed to ringfence a proportion of the funding to help stabilise the system of gambling harm prevention, support and treatment”.

A stop-gap fund is required to support organisations in England, Scotland, and Wales affected by potential changes in funding following the Government’s intention to introduce a statutory levy on problem gambling research, education and treatment (RET).

Funding will be allocated according to GambleAware’s ‘strategic framework’, requiring organisations to show they meet one or more of its five outcomes rela..

GamCare has unveiled a new addition to its services with a specific focus on women experiencing gambling-related harm, the Way Forward support group.

A virtual event, the support group will be held over Zoom between 6.30pm and 8pm and conducted by trained facilitators specialising in supporting women impacted by gambling harm.

In order, the seven sessions will focus on allowing participants to get to know each other, understanding gambling addiction, self-care, dealing with guilt, shame and enabling behaviours, dealing with anger and resentment, having difficult conversations, expectations and acceptance, and concluding with a reflection session.

The launch of the support group closely follows the addition of live chatrooms to GamCare’s service, also with a specific focus on assisting women who have encountered gambling related harm.

The themed chatrooms will take place 6pm-7pm Monday-Friday on a weekly basis from 31 July onwards, covering five different areas of focus on each day ..

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has allocated £32,844,197.31 to GambleAware for the creation of a ‘system stabilisation’ in regards to a transition period from voluntary funding to a statutory levy.

This is the latest allocation of funds gained by the UKGC through regulatory settlements, and is intended to “stabilise the system of gambling harm prevention, support and treatment” during the changeover. A previous high of $8.8m was also issued to GambleAware in April 2020.

A statutory levy to fund research, education and treatment (RET) was one of the biggest and most highly debated changes of the UK gambling white paper review of the 2005 Gambling Act.

Zoë Osmond, Chief Executive of GambleAware, previously called for the government to “move with urgency” regarding a range of consultations associated with the white paper, the first of which were addressed earlier in the week.

She said: “We welcome government plans to introduce a statutory levy as outlined in its Gambling white pape..