On Wednesday 29th September Beacon Counselling Trust led the webinar ‘A collaborative approach to tackling gambling harms across the Criminal Justice System’. The aim of this event was to raise awareness of gambling related harms in a criminal justice setting and provide those working in that field with the introduction to the ‘Bet You Can Help’ programme, a practical first aid approach to tackling this issue. The links between harmful gambling and criminality are now evidence based and there is a clear need for a reduction in gambling harms within the criminal justice system through a public health approach.
The event was attended by over 140 participants and was hosted by Graham England from ARA Recovery and introduced by Cheshire Police ACC Matt Burton the Police National Lead on Gambling. During the event we heard from Andrew Neilson from the Howard League and David Best from the University of Derby, alongside Nicola gave insight in to how somebody else’s gambling can affect your life and the links it has with criminality. We had from Carwyn Gravell from Forward Trust and Janey Mayo and Nicola Tutty who looked at the NHS perspective on the topic. Those in attendance were introduced to the ‘Bet You Can Help’ programme by our own Neil Platt alongside Aaron Mansfield from The Royal Society for Public Health who accredit the training and Jess Voll from GREO who evaluate the project.