gambling: help and referral annual report 2011-2012
Transcription
gambling: help and referral annual report 2011-2012
GAMBLING: HELP AND REFERRAL In the fall of 1993, at the time the Québec government established the first casino, a wide range of measures for the protection of gamblers were put into place, including Gambling: help and referral, implemented to make people aware that gambling is, for some, not a game anymore. The helpline soon became the reference when one was looking for help for gambling-related problems. The service, provided by the Information and Referral Centre of Greater Montréal, has been financed by Loto-Québec from 1993 to 2001, and since April 2001, by the ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux du Québec. Gambling: help and referral offers information, listening and support on compulsive gambling, as well as referral to all available help in the field. The helpline is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, throughout Québec. The personnel responds to several types of demands and needs: relevant reflections on the caller’s gambling habits; support and empathy in moments of great distress, and stabilization of callers before their referral to resources specialized in crisis situations. The anonymous and confidential nature of the communications allows people to talk about their difficulties without being afraid to be identified. In fact, suffering, shame, despair, anxiety and insecurity are often part of the caller’s burden. An Advisory Committee of ten people (whose composition was re-examined and added to this year) was set up in 2006-2007 to make recommendations to the Centre regarding Gambling: help and referral’s mandate as requested by the ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux du Québec. This Advisory Committee held two meetings this year, notably on the offer of services for gamblers such as telecounselling. The Committee also looked into the protocol of referral that guides our counselors in case of calls dealing with cyberpedopornography. Between November 15th, 1993 and March 31st 2012, nearly 160 000 people turned to Gambling: help and referral for help or information. 531 Anglophone people used the helpline this year. Since January 2006, help is available online (in French only for now) on the website of Gambling: Help and Referral, at www.jeu-aidereference.qc.ca and this website has received this year 770 305 hits, 144 614 pages and 74 900 visits. ANNUAL REPORT 2011-2012 Of the 7 046 calls received in 2011-2012, 86% came from concerned people of which 69% were worried about their own gambling habits (28% were women and 41% were men). Among the other calls, 8% came from peers of a gambler (brother, sister, or friend); 5% from spouses; 4% from parents; and 14% from field workers. Adults accounted for 95.2% of the callers, 3.8% were elderly people and 1% was from teenagers and children. Requests can be divided in the following categories: ♦ Requests for listening and support from gamblers themselves, their spouses, their peers and parents amount to 11% of calls; ♦ Requests for general information amount to 43% of calls; ♦ Requests for therapy, counselling, selfsupport groups, or other related requests as budgeting, family violence, substance abuse or suicide amount to 46% of calls. Among the types of games mentioned most often by callers were video-lotteries (64% of the mentions), and poker (6.6%), the slot machines at the casinos (7%), the lotteries (5.7%), which has increased again this year. As for the geographic origin of the originate from Greater Montréal, Montérégie, 8% from Québec area, Outaouais, and 27% from the other Québec. calls, 50% 12% from 3% from regions of Concerning public relations activities, Gambling: help and referral participated in 29 activities, four of which were television or radio broadcasts. In total, Gambling: help and referral was the subject of 111 mentions in publications or media. According to its mandate of referring to the appropriate service, the helpline has directed 22 people with a complaint against organizations or services to the appropriate authorities. From November 2010 to April 2012, our service was the object of two complaints which have been dealt with in accordance with our current protocol to the satisfaction of the concerned people. Since the field of intervention for gambling is in constant evolution, it requires a training program which responds promptly to the specific needs of the personnel. One of our worker participated in a training day at the Jeudis CDC, on Youth and Addiction. Several of our workers attended four workshops held by Sherbrooke University and the Association des intervenants en toxicomanie du Québec : Sexualité et Dépendances, L’aide aux proches, Prévention de la rechute en dépendance, and also Cyberdépendance : quand la passion des écrans tourne à l’obsession. Promotional campaigns: • • • Provincial campaign with MétroMédiaPlus: advertising in buses of four targeted regions (Outaouais, Laurentians, Mauricie, Montérégie), fall of 2011; CBS AFFICHAGE with advertising on bus shelters and billboards in the largest cities of the Province, winter of 2012; Two major promotional campaigns were held by Procité to reach 1 200 000 homes of the Greater Montréal in the fall of 2011 and in the winter of 2012. • • • • • • • Publicity • With its booth • Salon Visez Droit, held by the Bar of Montréal, April 2011; • Rendez-vous des Aînés, Regroupement des organismes pour aînés et aînées du Sud-Ouest de Montréal, May 2011. • Congrès de l’Ordre des Infirmières et Infirmiers du Québec, October 2011; • 24th Annual Conference of the Déléguées et Délégués sociaux, Conseil régional FTQ Montréal Métropolitain, November 2011; • Douglas Mental Health University Institute, June, November 2011, March 2012. Conference • • • Participation to several workshops and conferences, Journées annuelles de santé mentale, May 2011 ; Participation to Surdose médiatique et santé des jeunes, Y des Femmes and Edupax, May 2011 ; Participation to Activité de transfert des connaissances concernant le jeu pathologique, ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, June 2011 ; National Council on Problem Gambling, 25th National Conference on Problem Gambling and emerging innovations, Boston, July 2011 ; Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation, Responsible Gambling Conference, Halifax, October 2011; 39th Conference of Association des Intervenants en Toxicomanie du Québec « Prévenir et intervenir en dépendances : Interagir », Trois-Rivières, October 2011; Participation to Journées d’échanges sur le déploiement de l’offre de services en dépendance 2007-2012, ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, November 2011; Participation to Journée thématique portant sur les aspects éthiques de la réduction des méfaits, Journées annuelles de santé publique (JASP), November 2011; 4th International Gambling Conference, Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand, February 2012; Participation to transfert des connaissances sur les impacts économiques sur les jeux de hasard et d’argent, ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, March 2012. • • • • Advertising insert of our Annual Report, 39th Annual Conference of the Association des Intervenants en toxicomanie du Québec, October 2011 ; L’Intervenant, Magazine on alcoholism and substance abuse, (4 issues) 2011-2012; Magazine Le Point and Agenda le Point for school administrations, September 2011; IDCOM, Directories and Yellow Pages; More than twenty Agendas of different groups and weeklies. During the winter of 2012, the ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux launched a major multimedia campaign to promote awareness of excessive gambling and advertise our service. We are grateful for this initiative. Thanks also to Mise sur toi for several initiatives aiming at publicizing our service. We wish to underline that Mrs. Hélène Hamel, coordinator of Gambling: help and referral, was invited to the launching of the report of the committee Action concertée sur les impacts socioéconomiques des jeux de hazard et d’argent (INSPQ) and has also been a member of the Advisory Board for the survey: Les modalités de commercialization des lotteries au Québec: 2 implications sociales et de santé publique (INSPQ). Our team of counselors collaborates regularly with various universities on different research projects concerning gambling. Online referral: The ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux has given Gambling: help and referral the required financial support to operate an online referral service since January 2006. The web site offers general information and online help. As a first step, the user has to choose between asking for help or asking for information. This service is available not only to gamblers, but also to their spouses and other members of their families, their peers and to field workers. We received 144 requests in 2011-2012. 31% of users are women and 35% are men, 11% are spouses, 14% are peers and 9% field workers. 3.5% of users are teenagers and 4.2% are elderly people. As for the geographic origin of the requests, we note a fair representation of requests originating from Bas-Saint-Laurent, Capitale nationale, ChaudièreAppalaches, Lanaudière, Laurentians, Laval, Mauricie/Centre du Québec, Montérégie, Montréal and Outaouais. The requests for information and services are referred to the appropriate resource in 83% of the cases while the other demands are solved directly by our counsellors. Day after day since November 15, 1993, the Information and Referral Centre of Greater Montréal takes up the challenge: to manage a 24/7 service which responds to the needs of people having a problem with compulsive gambling as well as their relatives. The Centre insures that it operates within strict financial parameters. An updated data bank, as extensive and reliable as possible, keeps up with the development of public and private resources for people having problems with compulsive gambling. For eleven years now, free services are available for gamblers and their peers. The personnel at Gambling: help and referral makes sure that these services are well known throughout the Province. For nearly nineteen years, we have pursued this objective: to offer a reliable and quality service of information, referral and support to the Québec population in that field. We will continue to do all we can to justify the trust of the public and of our sponsors who have supported us since the inception of this service. Gambling: Help and Referral 514 527-0140 1 800 461 0140 1 866 SOS JEUX Fax: (514) 527-9712 Help online: (in French only) www.jeu-aidereference.qc.ca Lorraine Bilocq Lebeau Executive Director [email protected] Monique Cantin Director of Communications [email protected] Hélène Hamel Coordinator [email protected] 3 GAMBLING: HELP AND REFERRAL STATISTICAL REPORT 2011-2012 SOURCE OF ENQUIRIES Associations Colleges, Schools, Universities Communications Media Industry, Commerce Labor & Union Parapublic services CLSC Private agencies Professional persons Individuals: Men Women Parents Peers Spouses Public services Religious organizations 19 75 110 380 2 101 34 217 87 2 857 2 005 260 540 320 38 1 TOTAL 7 046 TYPE OF CONTACT Telephone calls Email 6 902 144 TOTAL 7 046 AGE CATEGORIES Adults Children Senior citizens Teens TOTAL 6 708 6 264 68 7 046 GEOGRAPHIC REGION Region 01, Bas-Saint-Laurent 88 Region 02, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean 109 Region 03, Capitale Nationale 592 Region 04, Mauricie et Centre du Québec 203 Region 05, Estrie 195 Region 06, Montréal 3 515 Region 07, Outaouais Region 08, Abitibi-Témiscamingue Region 09, Côte-Nord Region 10, Nord-du-Québec Region 11, Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine Region 12, Chaudière-Appalaches Region 13, Laval Region 14, Lanaudière Region 15, Laurentides Region 16, Montérégie Other regions TOTAL 236 53 24 10 32 93 245 258 412 859 122 7 046 TYPE OF GAMBLING Video Lottery Terminal (VLT) In Bars 1 519 In Ludoplex 4 Bingo 10 Casino: Crap Games 18 Slot machines 168 Table Games (Black Jack, Roulette, Baccarat) 113 Poker 64 Cyberdependency Internet (chat, shopping, stock, etc.) 27 Online Gambling 55 Poker 26 Electronic Games 41 Online games 74 Horse races 4 Lottery 135 Poker 67 Pool betting on sports 30 Others 27 TOTAL 2 382 TYPE OF ENQUIRIES Complaints against services Counselling General Information: Codependency 22 30 84 4 Gamblers’ Profile Gambling Gambling: Help and Referral Prevention Self-Exclusion In-patient Therapy: Parapublic services Private services Listening and support Out-patient therapy: Parapublic services Private services Telecounselling Relapse Social Reintegration Support group: Gamblers Parents Spouses and Peers Related requests: Budget counselling Crisis management Drug addiction Legal services Mental Health Shelters Suicide Violence Other requests TOTAL 132 164 4 456 104 95 FOLLOW-UP CALLS Additionnal communications with Clients for research and update 7 58 154 217 1 265 TOTAL 65 1 804 305 23 4 PUBLIC RELATIONS Information sessions (attendance : 2 people) Meetings and seminars Radio, TV 684 111 384 TOTAL 2 23 4 29 132 105 136 17 98 48 98 40 972 11 684 TYPE OF REFERRALS Directed to appropriate resource Referral calls by our staff Service rendered without Referrals Services required insufficient TOTAL 5 226 4 6 454 11 684 5