Adferiad Recovery receives GambleAware funding to develop Gambling Education Hub in Wales

Adferiad Recovery is delighted to announce that it has been granted funding by GambleAware to develop a Gambling Education Hub in Wales, with an important focus on preventing gambling harms to young people.

GambleAware has invested £2.5m into the gambling harms prevention education programme across England and Wales. Following a successful pilot in Scotland, this grant will be split between the Welsh and English Hubs, with GamCare, in partnership with YGAM, ARA, Aquarius, Beacon, Breakeven and Neca leading the project in England, and Adferiad Recovery undertaking the work in Wales. This is the second grant that has been awarded to Adferiad Recovery by GambleAware in recent months following a grant awarded to us in January for a pilot project to extend residential rehabilitation provision for gambling disorders.

The Hubs, which help prevent gambling harms among young people through early intervention and education, resulted in 92% of practitioners from the Scottish Hub saying they felt confident in identifying the signs of gambling harm, compared to just 35% pre-training. The Hubs also resulted in more than eight in ten young people from the Scottish Hub saying they were more aware of the consequences of gambling and 84% felt confident about where to turn to for support if needed.

This investment from GambleAware comes at a critical period, with the Hubs designed to reach all communities across the nations by engaging at a local level in a way that central Government sometimes cannot.

Young people are increasingly exposed to easily accessible gambling through the growth of online gaming and social media. GambleAware research published in 2020 showed that 94% of 11-17-year-olds in Great Britain had been exposed to gambling adverts in the last month, seeing six adverts on average.

Leon Marsh, Director of Hospital & Residential Services at Adferiad Recovery said: “We look forward to working with GambleAware on this great initiative to help reduce gambling-related harm caused to young people and to provide comprehensive training, education and resources to key stakeholders to reduce the risks associated with gambling addiction.

“We were delighted to hear that we had been selected to be the providers of Wales’s Gambling Education Hub and are looking forward to replicating the success of the project currently being undertaken in Scotland. Our extensive knowledge and experience in young people services puts us in a good position to be able to effectively deliver this project in Wales, and we are excited to be able to offer young people this valuable service.”

For more information, please contact: info@adferiad.org