A Partnership for Community Health Education

In a citywide effort to increase problem gambling awareness, the Nevada Council on Problem Gamblinghas partnered with the United Way of Southern Nevadaand MGM MIRAGE to develop a new program to raise awareness of problem gambling among community service agencies.

The program's main goal is to reach out to United Way-funded agencies in Las Vegas and educate them about problem gambling. Through the program, agencies are given the basics on problem gambling as well as the tools and resources to screen their clients and assist them in getting help.

"This program is unique because it addresses problem gambling as a community health issue," said Carol O'Hare, executive director of the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling. "We knew that we had to get the issue out into the community, and with this program, we are able to reach out and put tools and information into the hands of service agencies throughout the community."

The program was launched in March during Problem Gambling Awareness Week. To kick off the program, the Nevada Council held a two-hour seminar for Las Vegas service agencies affiliated with the United Way. According to O'Hare, targeting United Way agencies made the most sense because they are already in a strong, supported system.

For the first hour of the seminar, agency representatives learned basic problem gambling awareness. In the final hour, leaders introduced the program's tool kit, a comprehensive package of materials agencies can use in dealing with their clients. The most important resource included in the kit, according to O'Hare, are the screening tools. The program encourages agencies to incorporate the problem gambling screening tools into their already in-place system to further help identify people with a problem and refer them to treatment.

"We don't want them to be problem gambling experts," O'Hare explains. "But we do want them to know enough [about problem gambling] to know where problem gambling fits into their organization."

According to O'Hare, many people with a gambling problem who use these community services never have been offered the chance to seek help. "This program empowers the community to provide them with a help line or show them a commercial, when before, they probably wouldn't have had that opportunity," she said.

The kit also includes an overview of problem gambling, fact sheets, sample newsletter articles and other communication templates. The kit arms agencies with resources, such as problem gambling help lines and a listing of area problem gambling councils and Gamblers Anonymous groups, to disseminate among their clients. One section of the kit includes the materials in Spanish. The tools also can be accessed electronically.

Seminars are held periodically at the Nevada Council for United Way-sponsored agencies to further incorporate the program in the community. Plans to reach out to organizations in surrounding Southern Nevada communities and later expand the program statewide are under way.

"Our goal is to have greater outreach in the community," said O'Hare. "We want to see the state take a greater interest in the issue of problem gambling."

If the program succeeds in the Nevada area, O'Hare expects the partnership to grow and perhaps expand nationwide.