GambleAware has announced today a new two-year, £1.5 million partnership with Citizens Advice to help debt advisors better understand, prevent or reduce gambling related harms.

Being delivered across nine regions in England and Wales, the project will provide training to frontline debt advisors. The training will give staff the necessary tools to identify and support people who may be suffering from gambling related harm, as well as directing those at risk to the specialist help that is available.

The project will establish regional hubs with dedicated support staff across the country and will enable staff to deliver training to other frontline workers in other professions who come across people suffering from gambling related harm, such as frontline local authority staff, youth practitioners and healthcare workers.

The funding commitment comes after a successful six-year pilot project GambleAware ran with Newport Citizens Advice to deliver the Gambling Support Service.

Dr Jane Rigbye, Director of Education at GambleAware said:

“The debt advice workforce has an enormous role to play in supporting and reducing the likelihood of people experiencing gambling-related harms, as do many professions who come into contact with the general public on a daily basis. Encouraging and enabling staff in all public-facing settings to be aware of the possibility that the presenting problems could be related to gambling is key in helping to tackle this issue. I am particularly delighted that we will continue to work with Katie Fry to lead this programme, and with her team at Newport Citizens Advice’s Gambling Support Service as we roll out the programme at far greater scale.”

Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice said:

“Gambling can have life-changing effects, not just on the individual but also their families and friends. People seek our help to deal with the practical problems that come out of this – including increased debt and relationship breakdown.