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Five
populations (youth, older adults, women, corrections and ethno-cultural
groups) receive special attention from the PGS for problem gambling awareness,
education, research and clinical programming.
Philosophy of Service:
Our service is client-centred
and extremely easy to access: clients need no referral and generally speak
to their counsellor during their first phone contact. We use a harm reduction
approach.
Treatment modalities include
motivational, cognitive-behavioural and solution-focused counselling,
as well as relapse prevention techniques. Weekly education and support
groups have utilized a LifeSkills format, as well as a process-oriented
approach.
Profiles of Our Services
- Staff:
- The staff come from Social
Work, Addictions and Psychology backgrounds, with six full-time equivalent
addiction therapists. The PGS works closely with CAMH educators, scientists,
and writers to produce and disseminate information about problem gambling.
Description
of Our Clients:
- Last year, the PGS provded
service to 25% of all Ontarians who presented for treatment. For the
entire province, these were: 315 men (70%), 133 women (30%). Fifty eight
percent self-reported a primary ethnic identification other than Canadian.
Games that our clients
identified as problematic were: casino table games, track betting,
private card games, slot machines, sports betting, lotteries, bingo,
scratch cards and Nevada tickets.
- Outcomes:
- Based on 1999 outcome measures,
72% of clients contacted one year after treatment either maintained
their goals, further reduced their gambling behaviour or experienced
only minor relapses.
Research Involvement:
- Four PGS staff are the principal
investigators on seven funded research projects:
- youth prevention study:
an interactive presentation and performance presented to approximately
450 students in the GTA
- gender study: 400 gamblers
are being surveyed to determine gender-related differences in gambling
populations
- research on provincial treatment
needs and barriers for women gamblers
- Project Weathervane: with
the Canadian Foundation on Compulsive Gambling (Ontario), this study
surveys Ontarians’ attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and gambling behaviours
- research on the experience
of winning among non-problem and problem gamblers
- validation of the Inventory
of Gambling Situations, an instrument that helps identify risk situations
for relapse
- research on the efficacy
of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor in the treatment of gambling
disorders.
This
Service Profile was not peer-reviewed.
Submitted:
October 13, 2000
The
Electronic Journal of Gambling Issues: eGambling invites clinicians
from around the world to tell our readers about their problem gambling
treatment programmes. To make a submission, please contact the editor
at Phil_Lange@camh.net
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