Gambling, Gaming & Technology Use
Knowledge Exchange

Spring/Summer 2019 Edition

Forum Highlights

Clinicians and community partners come together to address gambling and gaming harms

The gambling landscape is changing—and the lines between gaming and gambling are blurred. There’s a need for new approaches to treatment and community engagement. To address this need, our Gambling, Gaming & Technology Use team co-hosted Gambling and Gaming Harms: Ontario Professional Development Forum with Gambling Research Exchange Ontario on May 9 & 10 in Toronto.

The forum brought together over 100 clinicians and community partners, providing an opportunity to interact and learn from each other’s experiences.

“It was exciting to see clinicians and community partners come together and share their knowledge and experience,” said Dr. Branka Agic, Director of Knowledge Exchange and Education in CAMH’s Provincial System Support Program.

Opening keynote: Dr. Carlo C. DiClemente

To open the forum, Dr. Carlo C. DiClemente, one of the founders of the Stages of Change Model, described how the model can be applied when working with people who have gambling or gaming problems. He reviewed the ways that we can support clients with self-regulation concerns and promote recovery from gambling disorders in the clinic and the community.

Breakout Sessions, Plenary Panels & Poster Presentation

During the breakout sessions and plenary panels, participants had the opportunity to select from clinical and community streams according to their professional interest.

The clinical stream included breakout sessions on the use of screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment in problem gambling; how to work across sectors to improve access to gambling treatment for diverse populations; and the connection between adult attachment and problem gambling, gaming, and technology use.

The community stream explored topics such as behavioural addictions, understanding gambling harms, and how to develop evidence-based strategies to reduce gambling harms.

The plenary panels discussed promising practices for addressing problematic gambling and concurrent challenges, as well as current trends in youth gambling, gaming, technology use and cannabis. Elaine Uskoski, an author and a mother who supported her son through problem video gaming, knew how important it was to be part of the youth plenary panel: “It was important that I attend the forum to both learn from experts and to provide a face and a voice to Video Gaming Addiction from a parent's perspective. Also, significant was being able to share the sacrifice and hard work it took to support my son through his addiction and recovery.”

In addition to the sessions and panels, Day 1 included a poster presentation featuring research supported by Gambling Research Exchange Ontario’s BET Community Initiatives stream, which provided grants to community organizations looking to complete a knowledge translation project focused on mental health, addictions, and/or community wellbeing.

Closing keynote: Diana Tikasz

The forum ended with a timely presentation by Diana Tikasz, who provided insights to help service providers stay healthy and compassionate while doing challenging work.

One of Diana’s key messages was that: "As helpers and as human beings, we can't help but be impacted by the stories of struggle, loss and suffering that we are exposed to on a regular basis. As helpers, we ourselves are also the tools of our work. Just as the woodcutter needs to take time to sharpen the ax, we too must take time to reset, restore and replenish. Hence it is not a selfish act but necessary to take this time on a daily basis so that we can continue to be sharp and resilient."

To help attendees with their self-care, Diana provided a variety of strategies, resources, and exercises, including a tool to monitor one’s emotional state and a variety of emotional resetting activities they can implement throughout their day.

Read more forum highlights and archived presentations: https://learn.problemgambling.ca/forum2019.

Announcements

Introducing the recipients of the Immigrant, Refugee and Ethnocultural Grant

We are pleased to announce the organizations which have been awarded funding to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate problem gambling awareness and/or counseling programs and services for immigrants, refugees and ethnocultural populations in Ontario for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.

A grant in the amount of $15k was awarded to the following organizations: Polycultural Immigrant and Community Services, The Jean Tweed Centre, The Vietnamese Association Toronto, and Vasantham - A Tamil Wellness Centre.

Congratulations! We look forward to working together with the recipients to improve problem gambling awareness and care in Ontario.

New evidence-informed web content on youth problem gambling

Do you provide mental health and addiction services to youth with problem gambling? We have launched new evidence-informed practice web content on youth problem gambling for mental health and addiction service providers. In this section, you will find background information about the topic, what the evidence says, and how to tailor approaches to youth aged 12 to 24 years.

Visit Learn.ProblemGambling.ca/eip to read more about youth problem gambling, as well as other evidence-informed practice content for problem gambling, technology use, and shopping. We will also be adding new and up-to-date content on an ongoing basis, so be sure to visit regularly.

Missed one of our recent webinars?

Did you miss one of our recent gambling, gaming, and technology use webinars? No problem! Visit the trainings and webinars webpage to listen to our recorded webinars at your convenience.

Have you joined our community of interest?

Be part of our online community of interest to collaborate and share knowledge among mental health and addiction service providers, researchers, and other experts in the fields of problem gambling, gaming, and technology use. Here’s how:

Become a member of EENet Connect at www.eenetconnect.ca
Once logged in, select the Groups tab and search for “Gambling, Gaming & Technology Use Community of Interest”
Select Join This Group

Join today and take part in the conversation!