The five-year organisational strategy includes four key commissioning objectives, which are mainly focused on improving the thinking and response around gambling harm.
The objectives are to develop awareness and understanding of gambling harm, increase access to services, while also increasing capacity and improving the effectiveness of the National Gambling Treatment Service.
GambleAware says long-term financial commitments from the gambling industry have made it easier to focus on investment into preventing gambling harm.
The charity wishes to collaborate with health and community services to provide an effective way of preventing harm; it also wants to work with the National Gambling Treatment Service to ensure future services operate at high standards.
The strategy lists more than 40 programmes across research, evaluation, education and treatment to support its “vision of a society safe from gambling harm.”
These programmes include training for faith leaders and debt advisors, new youth education hubs, targeted women’s prevention campaigns and research programmes which build on real experiences of gambling harm.
Zoë Osmond, GambleAware CEO, said: “Following a detailed consultation, it is clear GambleAware and other organisations need to work together to achieve a society that is safe from gambling harms.
“Over the next five years, we will work to build the accessibility and effectiveness of the National Gambling Treatment Service and ensure it is recognised as a strong coalition of treatment services and prevention activities, delivered in collaboration with the NHS and others.
“By 2026, we hope to have made significant progress towards our vision, but also want to ensure these programmes will continue to be sustained beyond the five-year term of this strategy.”
Recently, the Samaritans published its first best practice guidance for the gambling industry, in a bid to help gambling businesses prevent gambling-related suicides.
