Responding to clients with gambling issues: Training package and resources for AOD workers

February 2016
Staff: 

NCETA: Professor Ann Roche, Allan Trifonoff

Other Collaborators: 

Odyssey House Victoria

Project description: 

The AOD sector is increasingly aware that co-occurring issues such as gambling cannot be addressed in isolation from other client problems. The high number of AOD clients who have co-occurring AOD and gambling disorders highlights the importance of services responding effectively to both concerns. 

To address the need for AOD services to appropriately identify and respond to gambling in AOD clients, NCETA, in collaboration with Odyssey House Victoria and the South Australian Network of Drug and Alcohol Services, produced Slots & Shots: Gambling Resources for AOD Workers in late 2015. This resource contains a suite of practical gambling resources that AOD workers can use to address the AOD and other risks associated with problematic gambling. 

View the Slots & Shots: Gambling Resources for AOD Workers. 

Building on the success of Slots & Shots: Gambling Resources for AOD Workers, and recognising the need for appropriate clinical responses, NCETA is now working on the second phase of the project with Odyssey House Victoria. The primary aim of the project is to develop an online training package and associated resources. Intended outcomes include:

  1. Enhancing the competency of AOD workers to identify, assess and intervene with clients who have gambling issues
  2. Increasing awareness among AOD workers of the effects of problem gambling on individuals and families. 

The project is being funded by the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation and is due for completion in 2017.