Matthew Hickey: “We will provide our Alumni with the tools to support others”

Casino Guru News spoke with Gordon Moody CEO Matthew Hickey who has discussed the significance of the Alumni Project, how it has been helping people reclaim their lives, and the role the gambling industry needs to play in all of this.

The Alumni Project is an extension of the organization’s concentrated efforts to provide sufferers of gambling disorder with the support and care they need. The Entain Foundation has welcomed the opportunity to help with Gordon Moody’s ongoing efforts to provide continued support.

Hickey emphasizes how impactful people who have lived through this experience can be in assisting others, and he welcomed the UK Gambling Act review as an opportunity to demonstrate that the country is leading the way in the research, education, prevention, and treatment of gambling harm.

Q: Matthew, we come to you at an interesting time. The Entain Foundation has confirmed it will fund your Alumni Program for the next two years. Does this make you feel like your efforts are striking the right tone with the industry?

Gordon Moody has had a positive relationship with Entain - as well as other key industry stakeholders - for a number of years. Our core services are commissioned by GambleAware and funding for innovation, such as the Alumni Project, is essential in the continued research, education, prevention, and treatment of gambling harm. Working collaboratively with all stakeholders across the sector is important to us at Gordon Moody and recent services such as our women’s residential pilot wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the relationships we have and the support we receive from the industry.

I think it is safe to say that the case for support for Gordon Moody is a strong one and that we have seen an increase in the severe end of gambling harm over the past two years. Applications have increased significantly year on year and within that, those that present with complex issues and co-morbidities continue to rise meaning the specialist residential treatment programmes that Gordon Moody provides are absolutely essential. The industry recognises that and supports our work, the sector will only continue to improve by tackling gambling addiction together.

Q: Can we talk about your Alumni Program a little more? Gordon Moody puts an emphasis on continued support after finishing treatment. Do you think this is something new in how the industry and treatment specialists understand gambling addiction and specifically – the fact that people need continued support to stay on the right track?

It’s nothing new and Gordon Moody has provided recovery housing and outreach programmes for those who have completed treatment for many years. At Gordon Moody, we help people to reclaim and rebuild their lives.

Coming into treatment is a powerful step for someone suffering from gambling addiction and gets them on the road to recovery and reclaiming their lives. Our current offer of aftercare continues that support into recovery - mostly focusing on their staying gambling free and moving into independent living. For some, this is a huge challenge as they will have the legacy harms of gambling and years of debt repayments to make. They may have lost their jobs, and their homes and family relationships will have been extremely strained if not broken down completely, therefore this aftercare is absolutely essential.

The Alumni Project supports our clients with the rebuilding phase of their recovery. That means working with other organisations in the sector to support them with their long-term recovery, developing a lived experience community to support the unique cohort of service users who have been through Gordon Moody treatment, and providing access to lived experience communities and peer support networks in the wider community.

The Alumni Project also gives our service users the chance to provide input into the treatment at Gordon Moody, as well as the chance to gain skills to enable them to assess and inform our services. It will also provide career opportunities in the sector, lived experience events to raise awareness, and opportunities for our Alumni to support those looking for support and engaging with us for treatment.

The project does not replace our current provision of aftercare nor does it provide a replacement for support already out there, it gives Gordon Moody the opportunity to provide more support for its alumni, work in collaboration with the lived experience services in the National Gambling Support Network (NGSN), and provide more understanding and outcomes relating to long term recovery.

Q: It’s really interesting to us, and I think anyone who cares about problem gambling, that you can take people who have gone through your treatment program who are now able to provide the same level of support to others. How do you achieve this and know that people will not backslide?

Not everyone who comes through treatment at Gordon Moody will want to continue to work in the space and go on to support others. But for those that do, at whatever level that might be, we want the Alumni Project to be able to support this.

We will be providing our alumni with tools to help them guide others to treatment - if they see there is a need for someone to reach out for help. They will be able to support our applicants whilst in pre-treatment, as well as being involved with assessing and informing our services.

This is an opportunity for us to work with other peer support services and provide training for those who want to work in supporting others. Throughout all of this, and through mentorship available within the NGSN, we will provide full support for our alumni and continue to work on their own recovery as well as their safeguarding. Providing additional support through the Alumni Project will only serve to reduce the risk of relapse within our lived experience community and galvanise people’s recovery.

Q: What do you think the biggest challenge to guaranteeing this continued support is? Is it purely financial?

The funding has come from the Entain Foundation which is outside the funding made available in the UK for research, education and treatment of gambling harms (RET). The funding came after Barry Gibson, Chair of Entain, visited our services. Barry was very keen to learn from the residents at Gordon Moody, and from those with lived experience, what more could be done to prevent gambling harm and he was very keen to support our Alumni project.

Continued support will be dependent on the outputs of the first two years combined with how we demonstrate the collaborative nature of the project. The support needs to be more than financial, all areas of the sector have a part to play in reducing harm and we must tackle it together.

Q: The UK is facing a massive (re)regulation effort that will seek to put emphasis on consumer protection. What do you think, from your experience, would be the necessary measures to help consumers? Is it restricting access to certain products, limiting advertisement, or putting a bigger focus on treatment and prevention services? Or perhaps something completely different?

The review of the UK Gambling Act is a huge opportunity to demonstrate that the UK is leading the way in the research, education, prevention, and treatment of gambling harm. The government in the UK has to separate opinion from fact when it comes to publishing the long-awaited white paper. The measures that the government will seek to introduce must be evidence-based and show that they will be effective in the reduction of gambling harm.

In terms of gambling advertising, we must see that there is adequate protection for the young (through exposure to gambling advertising) and the vulnerable by giving people the opportunity to control and restrict the level of gambling advertising they are subjected to. There should also be measures taken to ensure those that have been affected by gambling harm are not subjected to direct marketing.

Restricting access to products through self-exclusion, blocking software, and financial institutions should be strengthened, whilst the complex matter of affordability checking needs to address the needs of those who may often go under the radar when it comes to detecting gambling harm. Many Gordon Moody service users have incurred huge debts of thousands of pounds through their addiction but there are many who also experience severe harm by spending much less.

Providing people with the right treatment, in the right place, at the right time is imperative. We are hopeful that the outputs from the Gambling Act review will provide sufficient resources for the residential tier four provision of treatment, such as those provided by Gordon Moody, to continue to grow to meet the demand along with the other services provided by the NGSN.

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