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Gambling: Help and Referral
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Hello. I’m a 37-year-old woman from a family of 8 children. For the past 2 or 3 years, my 49-y...
I wanted to know how to recognize a gambling problem, and you told me how.
Thank you for your ...
Hello. I have an occasional gambling problem. Once in a while, I overdo it and lose control.
I...
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Statistical Reports
Between November 15th, 1993 and March 31st 2011, more than 150 000 people turned to Gambling: help and referral for help or information. 586 Anglophone people used the helpline this year.
Of the 7,293 calls received in 2010-2011, 68% of the callers were worried about their gambling habits (25% were women and 43% were men). Among the other calls, 8% came from peers of a gambler (brother, sister, or friend); 5% from spouses; 4% from parents; and 15% from field workers. Adults accounted for 95% of the callers, 3.4% were elderly people and 1.1% were teenagers and children.
Requests can be divided in the following categories:
- Requests for listening and support from gamblers themselves, their spouses, their peers and parents amount to 11% of calls;
- Requests for general information amount to 39% of calls;
- Requests for therapy, counselling, selfsupport groups, or other related requests as budgeting, family violence, substance abuse or suicide amount to 50% of calls.
We wish to underline that 52% of calls were directly handled by the staff of Gambling: help and referral and did not need a referral.
Types of gambling mentioned
Among the types of games mentioned most often by callers were video-lotteries (64% of the mentions), and poker (9.2% which is double over last year), the slot machines at the casinos (9%), the lotteries (4.5%).
Geographic origin of calls
As for the geographic origin of the calls, 52% originate from Greater Montréal, 12% from Montérégie, 9% from Québec area, 3% from Outaouais, and 24% from the other regions of Québec.
According to its mandate of referring to the appropriate service, the helpline has directed 22 people with complaints against organizations or establishments to the appropriate authorities. Our service was the object of no complaints in 2009-2010 which would have been dealt with in accordance with our current protocol.
Since the field of intervention for gambling is in constant evolution, it requires a training program which responds promptly to the specific needs of the personnel.
Mr. Jérôme Moisan, from l’Entremise shared his expertise on crisis intervention in dual diagnosis situations. Two of our team members: Mr. David Bournival and Mrs. Mélanie Samson-Beaulieu shared their experience concerning the evaluation of suicidal crisis and the offer services to peers of addicted people.
Mr Gilles Marsolais, Social Worker, Trainer and Clinical Supervisor in the field of Mental Health shared his experience in Crisis Centers, particularly among suicidal persons suffering from Borderline Personality Disorders. One of our worker participated in a training day at the Jeudis CDC, on Harm Reduction.
Concerning public relations activities, Gambling: help and referral participated in 41 activities, 8 of which were television or radio broadcasts. In total, Gambling: help and referral was the subject of 144 mentions in publications or media.
- Salon Visez Droit, held by the Bar of Montréal, April 2010;
- Multi-Caf, community food resource, August2010;
- 23rd Annual Conference of the Déléguées et Délégués sociaux, Conseil régional FTQ Montréal Métropolitain, November 2010;
- CÉGEP Bois-de-Boulogne, «Prévention et promotion de la santé mentale», November 2010;
- Congrès de l’Ordre des Infirmières et Infirmiers du Québec, November 2010;
- Thematic Week on Mental Health, organized by the Centre d'Écoute et de Référence, UQÀM, March 2011;
- Salon ma Santé, Complexe Desjardins, March 2011.
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Participation in special events:
- Colloque Rond-Point 2010 « Dépendances : enjeux, problèmes et pratiques », Association des centres de réadaptation en dépendance du Québec, May 2010;
- Conference : Les acquis, les enjeux et les visions d’avenir après cinq ans de réorganisation des services en santé mentale, 8es Journées Bi-Annuelles en santé mentale, May 2010;
- Conference on Suicide of Elderly people, Association québécoise de prévention du suicide, September 2010;
- 8th European conference on Gambling Studies and Policy issues, Vienna, September 2010;
- Congrès « Prévenir et traiter les addictions sans drogues : un défi sociétal » as well as a visit of the Centre de Référence sur le jeu excessif, Nantes, France; October 2010;
- Responsible Gambling Conference, Halifax, October 2010;
- Colloque sur la démence et la souffrance psychique en gérontopsychiatrie, Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal, October 2010;
- 38th Colloque de l’Association des Intervenants en Toxicomanie du Québec « Au coeur du changement : l’intervention en toxicomanie », Trois-Rivières, October 2010;
- Congress « Défis de l’avenir après 30 ans de progrès, Association québécoise de prévention du suicide, October 2010;
- Participation to the Comité scientifique et aux Journées Annuelles de Santé publique (JASP) sur les produits à risque pour la santé, Institut national de santé publique, November 2010;
- “Human Nature: Women Mental Health”, Hôpital Louis-H. Lafontaine, January 2011;
- Conference on the signs, symptoms and treatment of bipolar disorders, REVIVRE, January 2011;
- Conference « L’Évaluation pour et par le communautaire », Centre de Formation populaire, March 2011.
- Advertising insert, 38th Annual Conference of the Association des Intervenants en toxicomanie du Québec, October 2010;
- L’Intervenant, Magazine on alcoholism and substance abuse, (4 issues) 2010-2011;
- Magazine Le Point and Agenda le Point for school administrations;
- IDECOM, Directories and Yellow Pages;
- More than twenty Agendas of different groups and weeklies.
- CBS AFFICHAGE with advertising on bus shelters and billboards in the largest cities of the Province, fall of 2010;
- Provincial campaign with MétroMédiaPlus: advertising in buses of four targeted regions (Outaouais, Laval, Mauricie, Montréal), fall of 2010;
- Public Service Announcement Broadcastings: 30 sec. in French and English sent to 14 TV stations throughout the province, starting August 2010;
- Two major promotional campaigns were held to reach 1,300,000 homes of the Greater Montréal by Procité in the fall of 2010 and again in the winter of 2011 and we thank them.
The ministère de la Santé et des services sociaux has given the Centre financial support to set up an electronic referral service since January 2006.
The web site offers general information and online help. As a first step, the user has to choose between asking for help or asking for information. This service is available not only to gamblers, but also to their spouses and other members of their families, their peers and to field workers.
We received 144 requests in 2010-2011. 23% of users are women and 38% are men, 14% are spouses, 3% are parents and 16% are peers and 5% field workers. 4% of users are teenagers and 3% are elderly.
As for the geographic origin of the requests, we note a bigger representation of requests originating from Bas-St-Laurent, Capitale Nationale, Mauricie, Laval, Abitibi, Laurentians and Montérégie if we compare this data with the calls we get at Gambling: help and referral. The nature of requests for information and services are otherwise appreciably the same.
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