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GambleAware announced this week that it would be entering a two year partnership with Citizens Advice.The partnership, which sees a £1.5 million investment from GambleAware, is aimed to assist debt advisors in spotting, reducing, and preventing gambling related harm.The partnership comes off the back of a successful partnership between GambleAware and Citizens Advice in Newport, the Gambling Support Services offered here are likely to be the basis of the national project.
Enormous role
Speaking of the partnership and its importance GambleAware’s Director of Education, Dr Jane Rigby, said:“The debt advice workforce has an enormous role to play in supporting and reducing the likelihood of people experiencing gambling-related harms, as do many professions who come into contact with the general public on a daily basis.“Encouraging and enabling staff in all public-facing settings to be aware of the possibility that the presenting problems could be related to gambling is key in helping to tackle this issue.“I am particularly delighted that we will continue to work with Katie Fry to lead this programme, and with her team at Newport Citizens Advice’s Gambling Support Service as we roll out the programme at far greater scale.”
Life-changing
Adding to Dr Rigby’s comments, Gillian Guy, Citizens Advice’s Chief Executive, said:“Gambling can have life-changing effects, not just on the individual but also their families and friends. People seek our help to deal with the practical problems that come out of this – including increased debt and relationship breakdown.“We are pleased to be partnering with GambleAware to develop services across England and Wales. These will help our staff make a real difference to people struggling with gambling.”The project will initially be rolled out across nine regions of England and Wales, and will look to deliver gambling related training to frontline workers.