London, 17 November 2021: GambleAware has recommissioned the Scottish Gambling Education Hub for a further three years from 1^st November 2021. The Hub has been delivered by the Scottish charity Fast Forward since 2018.

The Scottish Gambling Education Hub, funded by GambleAware, works with young people, and the adults in their lives, to raise awareness of gambling harms, and ensure that those working with young people and families are confident in their ability to offer harm reduction advice and signpost those who need it to advice and support.

The Hub’s mission will remain to ensure all children, young people and families in Scotland have access to gambling education and prevention opportunities and resources. Improvements to the current structure of the programme will be made, to ensure partners, practitioners, and policymakers remain engaged with the issue.

To date, the Hub has trained staff from more than 550 different organisations across all 32 local authorities in Scotland, including schools, colleges, universities, youth work and family services.

Since its creation, the Hub and the external evaluation provider, identified potential areas for improvement in the existing gambling training delivery model. Based on these insights the updated structure for the programme will offer a more tailored approach to gambling prevention and education training for professionals and practitioners. With an increased use of the existing training and resources, the availability of gambling harm awareness and support activities for children, young people, and families across Scotland will be improved.

In addition, in 2019, the Scottish Gambling Education Hub established the Scottish Gambling Education Network (SGEN) to bring together individuals from a variety of settings with the aim to share best practices, provide support and help establish, sustain, and improve gambling education and prevention provision across Scotland.  The Hub will continue to facilitate and broaden the scope of SGEN activities, introducing hosting a national conference in 2022.

The Scottish Education Hub will play a key part in supporting the creation of the English Education Hub and Welsh Education Hub, projects that will soon be commissioned by GambleAware to help the prevention of gambling harm among young people in both nations.

Dr Jane Rigbye, Prevention Director at GambleAware said: “Fast Forward has demonstrated its value as a key partner to prevent gambling harm among young people in Scotland. Given the success of the work already carried out, continuity is vital.

“The Scottish Education Hub has engaged with young people, parents, the community and youth workers in an impactful and creative way to deliver unique projects over the years.

“We are delighted to support them further in their prevention and education work and look forward to publishing the independent evaluation of the project for their work in 2022.”

Allie Cherry-Byrnes, Fast Forward’s CEO said: “Fast Forward’s work supports young people to make informed choices regarding risk-taking behaviours, towards positive life-long health outcomes.

“Gambling has become normalised in our communities, with many young people affected by their own gambling, or by the gambling of a parent, carer, or family member.

“The renewed funding from GambleAware means that the Scottish Gambling Education Hub will continue to work with young people, parents and educators to raise awareness of gambling harms and ensure support is accessible if they need it.”

The press release is accessible in full here.