BET: System Impact

Ottawa Public Health - Reducing Harms from Gambling through Community Engagement

Ottawa Public Health is engaging partners of the Ottawa Gambling Harm Prevention Network (OGHPN) to support the comprehensive strategy to increase awareness of the harms related to gambling within vulnerable populations in Ottawa. Through consultations with individuals with lived experience and representatives of vulnerable populations, knowledge translation (KT) products will be created to increase awareness of the harms related to gambling as well as mental health resources and treatment services in Ottawa.

The project will leverage the expertise of the OGHPN and partnerships with existing community organizations in Ottawa to consult and share resulting resources on awareness and prevention of gambling harms including available local support, treatment agencies and provincial resources. The major parts of the project are engaging the OGHPN, community engagement with service providers and representatives from their client base, development and dissemination of knowledge translation resources and products, and evaluation to determine next steps.

Windsor Essex County Health Unit - Tailoring Local Communications Campaigns to Target Gambling-related Harm prevention

Windsor Essex County Health Unit (WECHU), in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association and Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare Problem Gambling Services, is working to gather information with local stakeholders to gain insight into risk factors and vulnerable groups in the community. As a result of engaging with their partners and identifying effective local communications strategies for target populations WECHU will design, implement, and evaluate a gambling awareness communications campaign using social, digital, and traditional media routes.

The project will work to establish a local network for addressing gambling harm, and boost systems capacity to respond to needs within the local gambling environment. The campaign will cover topics such as responsible gambling and healthy choices, facts about gambling and problem products, problem gambling awareness, and gambling harms.

North Bay-Parry Sound District Health Unit - Developing Sustainable Gambling Harm Reduction Partnerships and Network

In response to a proposed casino development, North Bay-Parry Sound District Health Unit (NBPSDHU) is working with community based health and social service organizations to develop a Gambling Harm Reduction Partnership in the region. Partnering with the Canadian Mental Health Association and the Community Counselling Centre of Nipissing to develop a casino gambling harm reduction plan, they are applying a health promotion approach to gambling harm that emphasizes links to the social determinants of health and comorbidities, including mental illness, substance use, violence, and suicide.

Planned outputs for the project include developing and disseminating knowledge products for the general population, with an emphasis on reaching vulnerable populations or those with comorbid disorders as well as hosting a forum for the local community to share of key messages related to the development of the casino gambling harm reduction plan. Also, it is anticipated that increased collaboration and education among local stakeholders will enhance the capacity of health and social services to address gambling harms.

Northwestern Health Unit - Prevention of Gambling-Related Harms

In preparation for casino development in the Kenora area, Northwestern Health Unit is targeting Kenora and surrounding communities via a communications campaign to engage the community on a dialogue around gambling harms by developing a series of educational messages that resonate with the local population. 

Through a variety of channels and media tools, key messages that address gambling harm within the context of substance use and mental health issues will be mobilized, creating awareness of gambling harm in the Kenora area. This multidisciplinary team includes partnerships with community organizations across the region and aligns closely with work being conducted as part of the Northern Ontario Wellness project (more details here).

Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health - Preventing Cannabis Harms Through a Youth-Driven Campaign (PCHY)

Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health is spearheading a youth-driven health promotion campaign to investigate the risk factors associated with cannabis use (including gambling harm). The intent of this youth-driven campaign is to engage youth in the design and delivery of a comprehensive communication strategy that emphasizes key message identified by youth related to cannabis use, risks, and harms. This strategy will be implemented through various avenues of social media, through media advertisement, ongoing outreach, and other approaches.

By engaging youth to co-develop health promotion messaging around cannabis use that addresses risk factors and resonates with youth, it is anticipated that the campaign will enhance decision making skills, resiliency, knowledge, and awareness in this target audience.

The Jean Tweed Centre – Networking to Reduce Harms from Gambling and Problem Technology Use in Ontario Women

The Jean Tweed Centre’s (JTC) project focuses on building a network of social and health organizations in order to address women’s issues with gambling and problem technology use. The members of the network will be educated on Gender Transformative Health Promotion and Trauma Informed Practice in order to better address the treatment needs of women that JTC has identified. These partners will assist in identifying a knowledge translation (KT) project to address these harms in women, helping to prepare for more KT projects in the future.

The project coordinator will seek partners for the project from Ontario organizations with an interest in women’s issues around gambling and technology. At present, there is limited information on how problem gambling specifically affects women, and this project aims to consider the needs of women of varying ages and socioeconomic statuses to reach a large and diverse population. 

Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU), Student BET – Environmental Scan for Mental Health Resources in Windsor-Essex County (WEC)

The aim of this project is to perform an environmental scan of WEC to locate and categorize the mental health resources that are available locally. This project is being undertaken by a PhD candidate from the University of Windsor Social Work PhD Program. The project is broadly targeted towards mental health issues in WEC, and this scope includes problem gambling as both a unique mental health problem and a set of behaviours that are comorbid with other mental illnesses. Some areas in WEC are especially likely to have its citizens show symptoms of problem gambling due to the proximity to a casino and Bingo centres. Some members of the community are also at greater risk due to socioeconomic factors.

After the scan, a summary report containing the findings and actions of the project will be created. The results will be shared with relevant health and community organizations so that they can make more effective recommendations about available services to members of the community. The information will be shared through presentations, web resources, and print. 

Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) – Discussing Senior Mental Health Issues Using Theatre

The focus of this project is to create, cast, perform, evaluate, and discuss a play focused on senior citizen suicide called Afterwhys. Gambling and addiction are addressed as contributing factors towards suicidal feelings in older adults. The play is to be followed by a facilitated discussion intended to destigmatize addiction, provide peer support, and encourage the loved ones of seniors to take an active role in their health and well-being. The local theatres where the play will be presented will also have information booths on hand to share community mental health resources.

The events will be advertised using social media, radio, newspapers, and print media in community centres. Clips from the play will ultimately be used in a video to make the themes accessible to people who cannot attend the productions. The video will be hosted on the WDGPH website, as well as the website for the Suicide Awareness Council of Wellington-Dufferin.