THE GAMBLING EDUCATION HUB: INTRODUCING THE NEW TEAM (PART 3 OF 4)

Happy New Year! We’re resuming our blog series from the Gambling Education Hub – today we’re introducing you to Paul, one of our new Project Officers.

Hi, my name is Paul Anderson and I joined Fast Forward in November, after having worked in the drug, alcohol and addictions field for over 20 years.

During my time as a Substance Use Officer, I have gained experience of working with people facing gambling addictions. Training practitioners is a new and exciting role for me as is this project, and I am excited to be part of the Gambling Education Hub.

My role as a Project Officer is to lead our work with the Youth Work and Informal Education Sector. I am looking forward to getting out and engaging with youth workers across Scotland, offering free training, advice and resources regarding gambling education and prevention.

The latest report from the Gambling Commission revealed that around 450,000 young people aged 11-16 were involved in gambling in the last week in Great Britain. It also showed that figures of underage gambling (14%) exceeded those who had been drinking alcohol (13%), smoking cigarettes (4%) and taking illegal drugs (2%).

Fast Forward acknowledges that youth workers play a key role in supporting young people: our Gambling Education Training has been designed to support them in addressing gambling and problem gambling through their youth work practice.

Our free CPD sessions for youth workers are engaging and informative, providing resources and activities that can be used with young people in a number of different settings, from youth clubs to street work. Our aim is to support youth workers in addressing gambling-related issues with young people, through a harm-reduction approach and with a clear understanding of the links to other risk-taking behaviors. We also offer a comprehensive follow up, offering on-going support and consultancy.

Throughout 2019 I will be delivering regional training events all across Scotland: to book a free space, please visit our Training Calendar through this link, please note that more training dates will also be added in the near future.

Additionally, I welcome requests for in-house bespoke training, always free of charge. This would consist of a CPD session for your staff team, which would be tailored to the specific interests and needs of your youth work programme.

I am also delighted to announce that we have launched the Gambling Education and Prevention Small Action Fund. This consists of a new funding stream available to youth and community groups who can apply for up to £250 to design and implement their own local gambling education initiatives.  This year so far we have funded 3 local youth-led projects and we look forward to receiving more applications from youth groups across Scotland.

Fast Forward has an excellent dedicated website where you can access our Gambling Education Toolkit: a new resource providing information, useful links and materials for engaging and educational activities that practitioners can download for free.

We will soon launch a regular Gambling Education Newsletter, more details coming soon! If you have any question or would like to request a free bespoke session for your team, please contact me directly and I will be pleased to discuss this in more detail.

 

If you currently work in the youth work sector and would like some more information, please get in touch via email paul@fastforward.org.uk or by phone 0131 554 4300.