GambleAware launches £3m Gambling Harms Awareness training initiative

The ‘Gambling Harms Awareness and Support’ initiative will reach out to professionals and community leaders who work or volunteer across eight sectors: debt advisors, faith leaders, primary care, social care, occupational health, criminal justice settings, housing and homelessness services and community pharmacies.

GambleAware said people working in these settings may lack the awareness, knowledge, and skills to identify gambling harms or provide appropriate support but are still approached by members of the public for help and advice.

The training programme, GambleAware said, will allow people in this position to offer both guidance and support at an early stage and help reduce gambling harms in the community.

GambleAware will invest £3.0m in the project over a three-year period, with the programme to run alongside GambleAware’s existing portfolio of training and educational resources

“Upskilling professionals and community leaders through the new training programme will also contribute to expanding the National Gambling Treatment Service provision and promoting a whole-system, community-based approach,” GambleAware said.

To help support programme, GambleAware has launched an invitation tender for qualified organisations to develop and deliver the training and resources, in collaboration with the existing GambleAware networks, on a national and local level across England, Scotland and Wales.

The successful bidder will work with new and existing providers of training on gambling harms awareness and intervention.

The tender is open now and a deadline for applications is set for 5 November this year.

Confirmation of the new programme comes after GambleAware this week also announced plans to establish a network of new Gambling Education Hubs across England and Wales, committing approximately £2.5m to the project.

GambleAware last month also said it would commit £4.0m in funding to Great Britain’s first academic research hub specialising in gambling harms research.