The Bethany Community Support Gamblers Help Program provides face-to-face counselling for people affected by problem gambling, whether you are the gambler, partner, family or any one associated with a problem gambler.

Partners and other family members often find it hard to understand how gambling could have become such a problem for someone they love.

Problem gambling may result in a number of negative consequences to individuals and their families. Counsellors work with the individual to reduce the impact of the problem gambling and develop strategies to prevent further harm.

Financial issues often arise from problem gambling. If the initial assessment session identifies a need for financial counseling, clients can be assisted by our Financial Counsellor.

The Gamblers Help Program is funded by the Department of Justice.

Access
A referral is not required for these services. You can contact Bethany on 5278 8122 between 9am - 5pm weekdays.

Some after-hours appointments are available on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings by appointment.

Groups
From time to time support groups are facilitated to provide an alternative to or in addition to counselling.

Community Education
The program offers a range of community education services including education sessions for the general community on gambling and problem gambling, professional development for education, health and community services sectors and information and training for staff at gaming venues, to facilitate linkages between gaming venues, counselling and support services

Fees
There are no charges for this service.

Privacy & Confidentiality
Your Rights Will Be Respected
Bethany complies with the Information Privacy Act when handling all personal information.

Information that you discuss with a worker will be treated in a confidential manner. If a moral or legal issue arises, where there may be risk to yourself or others, we are legally obligated to report this.

The service may be required to write a report. This report will include relevant information regarding the service staff's observations and conversations with all parties. All parties will be provided with a copy of the report.

Research

The self-reported motivation of problem gamblers for seeking problem gambling counselling

By Kendall Carnie ©2007

This research was conducted with the support and assistance of

Bethany Community Support and the University of Ballarat

Research Purpose

It was the purpose of this project to identify the sources of motivation and detailed reasons of problem gamblers for seeking problem gambling counselling, using in-depth interviews. There are only a few published research articles in the addictions area about why individuals seek treatment from the perspective of the client, and there doesn’t appear to be any which are specific to problem gambling. This project was undertaken to explore this neglected area of research.

To download a copy of the summary of the research click on the link below

Research document