Problem Gambling Awareness and Screening

What you’ll study

When did gambling become a cultural norm? How does it intersect with (and even hide behind) issues like homelessness, debt, and drug abuse? Why is one person’s casual flutter another’s destructive compulsion?

For every problem-gambler, an average of six other people are directly affected — from family and friends to employers and colleagues. On this course, we’ll uncover the hidden truths behind one of the UK’s most pervasive public health concerns. In a world where the invitation to gamble is everywhere — from live in-play odds, to mobile gaming, to glossy influencer endorsements — what might danger look like? How can we approach difficult conversations in a tactful, humane way? When do we intervene to stop a harmful tendency blossoming into full-blown addiction, saving time, cost, pain, and potentially lives?

On this course, you’ll:

• discover how problematic behaviours can be inherited, learned, and even imitated — from parental modelling in childhood, to the thrill of that first big win
• explore how different biological, psychological and social factors can combine to pave a path to addiction
• learn how to recognise and assess problematic behaviours, confidently and accurately
• get to grips with SMOA (the Structured Method of Asking) — a straightforward, accessible process that helps vulnerable people identify and begin owning their addictive tendencies
• understand the full range of specialist support services that clients can be signposted and referred to, as a means of further treatment-planning
• forge connections with a community of likeminded service providers — drawn across the private, public and non-profit sectors — who all work regularly with vulnerable people.