MGHP
facilitates sustainable community education campaigns on problem gambling,
based on partnerships between Gambler's Help services and ethno-specific organisations.
Each
partnership project features the following elements:
1.
Research into the demographics of the region
2.
Consultation with key mainstream and ethno-specific services
3.
Formation of a project taskforce that includes
representatives of Gambler's Help and relevant ethno-specific organisations
4.
Consultation with community members to identify attitudes to
problem gambling and help seeking
5.
A community education campaign developed and implemented by
the project taskforce
6.
Evaluation with project partners and the target community
Northern Region
A
partnership between Gambler's Help Northern, the Meadow Heights Turkish Women's
Association and MGHP increased awareness of problem gambling within the Turkish
community in the Northern Region.
The
community education campaign included:
-
a series of interactive community workshops
-
several interviews and news article in Turkish media
-
an in-language poster on problem gambling
-
stalls at two major Turkish festivals
As
a result of the campaign, Gambler's Help Northern has seen an increase in the
number of Turkish community members accessing their service.
Western Region
Partnerships
with Gambler's Help Western, the Filipino Community Council of Victoria and
Australian Croatian Community Services resulted in two community-driven
campaigns on problem gambling.
For
the Filipino community, the campaign included:
- community education sessions to increase awareness through
word-of-mouth
-
the development and distribution of a Tagalog poster, with
slogans and artwork provided by the community
-
a series of radio interviews and community service
announcements on Filipino programs
-
articles published in the Philippine News
The
Croatian community campaign included:
-
training for care workers and volunteers on gambling issues
and referral pathways
-
in-language posters and pens developed and displayed by
health services
-
articles in the weekly Croatian newspaper
The
projects illustrated how community ownership, collaboration and exchange of
knowledge can strengthen the capacity of community organisations to respond to
the issue of problem gambling.