GambleAware doubles funding for rebranded support service

GambleAware has doubled the funding for its support service, focusing on helping people who experience gambling-related harm. This announcement coincides with the rebranding of the formerly-known National Gambling Treatment Service which will now be referred to as TheNational Gambling Support Network (NGSN).

The name was changed to reflect what is seen as a more accurate description of the efforts that have been ongoing in helping consumers recover from gambling addiction or move past destructive gambling habits. It’s through continued support that this may happen, with GambleAware also allocating more funding to the NGSN moving forward.

The NGSN is a network of diverse treatment providers which specialize in providing consumers with early prevention and what GambleAware describes as a "regional-first" approach. This means that individuals will receive the right support at the right time, an ambitious goal that will be put to a swift test.

GambleAware argues that these changes to its support structure, and the additional funding forwarded to the program are necessitated by the changing needs of consumers who are at risk of gambling harm in Great Britain.

The organization hopes that by helping nip similar problems in the bud or offering early intervention and support, it would relieve pressure on the National Health Service, which is usually tasked with helping individuals recover from gambling addiction.

GambleAware wants to make sure that this regional-first approach will prevent much of the need for treatment in the first place and lead to cost-effective and high-quality results that will impact consumers’ lives for the better. The support service will now refer people who call the National Gambling Helpline to their local treatment provider, part of a broader effort to provide people with continued and timely support.

These local providers will then have the responsibility to approach consumers and make sure that they get the help they deserve. This way, more cases may be caught earlier rather than later, leading to a decline in the number of people whose cases have progressed so severely that they need to be checked in and offered treatment services.

GambleAware CCO Anna Hargrave welcomed the opportunity to help the NGSN increase the funds it has available and offer further help to those consumers who are experiencing gambling harm. "The NGSN is built on strong foundations and brings together a network of excellent regional providers, who are strong agents of change working to meet people’s needs," Hargrave explained.

The commissioner believes that by enacting the above-stated changes, GambleAware and the NGSN are engaging on a local level and with local authorities, meaning that people who need help can be helped. In this end, this is all that matters.

GambleAware also recently funded another research into gambling stigma, seeking to garner a better understanding of how problem gamblers who are excluded or discriminated against end up suffering greater harm.

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