BET: System Impact

Ottawa Public Health - Reducing Harms from Gambling through Community Engagement 

This project builds on the Ottawa Gambling Harm Prevention Network (OGHPN) initiative. There will be knowledge exchange (KE) between OGHPN and its partners to increase awareness of gambling harm in vulnerable Ottawa populations. The plan to reduce gambling harm will require consultation with members of vulnerable communities on how best to reduce harms. Their information will be used to create knowledge translation (KT) products that will boost aware ness of gambling harms and treatment services in the community. 

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

This project will develop an improved means of communicating information about gambling harms and relevant services available in Windsor-Essex County (WEC). The Health Unit is partnering with the local branches of Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare and the Canadian Mental Health Association in order to gain insight into risk factors for gambling harm that are particularly common in the area. One of the other important pieces of information is to determine how people are becoming aware of the services that these organizations provide. Using this information, the Health Unit will use traditional and social media to share messages about responsible gambling, problem gambling, gambling products, and gambling harm. 

North Bay-Parry Sound District Health Unit - Collaborative Gambling Harm Reduction Plan Development and Implementation

In preparation for the building of a new casino in North Bay, the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit (NBPSDHU) intends to address predicted negative health outcomes for their community through planning and education. The steps that need to be accomplished to make this happen include recruiting key stakeholders, hosting a knowledge exchange (KE) event, creating a harm reduction plan, developing and sharing knowledge products, and hosting a community forum. One of the hopes of the Health Unit is that service providers will shift their focus from just treatment of gambling harm to prevention.  

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.