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McGill Youth Problem Gambling Series Toolkits

Thursday, April 8, 2010

McGill University has launched a world-first program in Nova Scotia to help medical and legal professionals identify, address and prevent youth gambling.

The Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation (NSGC) is proud to be the funding partner that made this program happen in Nova Scotia. McGill’s International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors spent three years researching and developing interactive and educational toolkits for the doctors, lawyers, judges and health care workers who are often the first to deal with high-risk youth.

“We know that the younger someone starts to gamble, the much higher the risk that they will develop a problem with gambling later in life. Putting powerful information in the hands of those who influence and care for Nova Scotia’s young people is a key step in breaking this cycle,” says Dr. Jeffrey Derevensky from the McGill Centre.

Three thousand of the medical and legal toolkits have been distributed across the Province. The toolkits contain practical, easy-to-use, but comprehensive articles and research papers on a CD and videos on a DVD. The educators featured on the DVD include the top experts in youth problem gambling in the world, such as doctors from Harvard Medical School and Yale University and the presiding judge of the world’s only therapeutic gambling court.

NSGC has been focusing on preventing youth gambling since 2006, when research found that young Nova Scotians had increasing gambling rates and higher risks of developing problems than many adults.

Copies of the toolkits can be obtained by contacting Krista Tinslay at mtinslay@nsgc.ca.