Consumer Voices 2023-24: Program Outcomes & Feedback Summary
Project Aims:
- To increase community awareness and education about gambling harms
- To create an informed and empathetic community to reduce stigma
- To reduces barriers to support for those affected by gambling harms
- To promote self-help and professional support to those affected
- To value the experience and role of consumers (those affected gambling harms) in being peer leaders in individual recovery and community education.
This project provides a trained group of volunteer peer educators to raise community awareness of issue of gambling harms. These are people who have substantially recovered from their gambling problems and are willing and able to share their story for the benefit educations others. In partnership with the statewide GambleAware services presentation offered to a variety of service groups, community welfare services and corporate organisations.
The program incorporates three different forms of delivery of this one-hour semi- structured community education session: a hybrid model where presenters may be face to face and online, fully face-to-face sessions and fully online sessions.
Outcomes this year
There have been 28 completed CV sessions delivered across the state of NSW
from October 2023 – June 2024 with 753 participant attendants
The program completed CV sessions in 8 of the 10 GambleAware regions and contributed to
one National Gambling Regulators Conference in Sydney in March 2024
Consumer Voice sessions were hosted by 18 individual community agencies,
some on multiple occasions. A significant proportion (8) of these have been
TAFE colleges with multiple requests coming from teachers of: Community
Services and AMEP (Australian Migrant Education Program) students.
In addition, three corporate organisations hosted sessions for staff including:
Cabra-Vale Diggers, Star Casino and the National Gambling Regulators
Conference. A further 25 agencies participated in initial discussions but have yet
to arrange a CV session.
The majority (17) of sessions were delivered in person, followed by online
sessions (8) and hybrid sessions (3). Online sessions were particularly popular
Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport with TAFE colleges, many of whom are now delivering to students in state-wide classes via this medium. It is not surprising find TAFE colleges having thehighest number (374) of attendees.
The Residential Training Retreat (Core-Training):
The initial two-day residential retreat core training for speakers was delivered
over the weekend of May 10-12th 2024. Evaluative feedback indicates all participants found the program valuable. Participants reported high levels of satisfaction with the program, scoring 4 & 5 on all scores of the Likert scale (1 = most negative & 5=most positive).
Participants contributed the following qualitative comments:
(I liked) the camaraderie and the way it was presented” “
(I liked) “crafting stories”
(I liked) “the casual delivery, well structured, small groups a good access
to facilitators. Seating was conversational”
“Good instructors and great food”.
“Hope for the Future”
Two of the four, newly trained lived experience
Media Workshop
The one-day workshop for Media training workshop was held at the Sydney Mechanics Institute 9.30am-4.30pm on Saturday August 3rd The training was presented by Catriona Bonfiglioli, a health journalist, and Senior Lecturer in Media Studies from University of Technology Sydney. The Workshop was co-facilitated by Kate Roberts (GIS) and the Wayward filmmakerteam who assisted with ‘mock-up interview’ filming.
Evaluative feedback indicates all participants found the program valuable.
Participants reported high levels of satisfaction with the program, scoring 4 & 5
on all scores of the Likert scale (1 = most negative & 5=most positive).
Participants contributed the following qualitative comments:
(I liked) the “role play interview” (x 3)
(I liked) “interacting with people from all walks of life & experience of gambling
harm”
(I liked) the “open discussions and the courage to share”
(I liked) “the interchange of opinions/experiences”
(I liked) “talking about the various interviews”
(I liked) “Catriona-a lovely trainer”
Participant Feedback
The Participant Evaluation Survey provides both qualitative and quantitative
impact data from a sample of 235 session participants from across the state
Session attendees recorded consistent scores of 4 to 5 on a Likert scale of 1-5 (1 being low) in areas of increased understanding of gambling problems, knowledge of where to get help, how to gain additional information and how to refer to GambleAware services. There was an overall rating across all areas of 4.6 (This data indicates a high level of satisfaction amongst participants. Some of the sessions’ particular strengths are highlighted in the following comments:
“The passion of all the people involved was inspiring and so humbling to
know that there is people out there who care so much about this issue
and the people struggling with it. Thank you so much for everything you
do.” (TAFE student, Wollongong)
“Guest speaker and fantastic people to assist with educating the group,
non-judgemental” (Aboriginal Women’s Service)
“How it highlighted how widespread the issue is and how far it
encompasses the individual life and those around them”. (TAFE-Statewide
student)
“This was a powerful and engaging presentation that combined the hard
facts and stats of gambling and gambling harms, with the lived
experience of a young person”. (TAFE student, Wollongong)
“I liked the personal stories that were shared, it added important context
for potential barriers and impacts of gambling”. (Multi-Cultural Service)
Qualitative feedback from GAP regions indicates the personal story is the “most
liked” aspect of the community education session. Individual commentary
specified how much participants valued the Consumer Voice peer educators
openly sharing their personal journey with gambling harms:
“I enjoyed Anne Marie’s presentation she was able to bring real life
experience, to think how to better utilise our skills in the future”. (Club
Staff member, Sydney)
“The wealth of information from the counsellors and the raw honesty of
the lived experiences. Extremely well put together and very informative”.
(TAFE student Wagga Wagga)
“Hearing about Maria’s lived experience was incredibly helpful in learning
about gambling harm” (University Newcastle -student)
“I liked the honesty and the way facts, and the consequences were
presented, as well as the strategies that help people recovery. The way
that gambling is embedded in various ways in venues, games, and
therefore has a certain amount of acceptance and validity until a person
becomes hooked.” (TAFE student, Wollongong)
Host Feedback
Host feedback indicated a high level of satisfaction with suitability of the sessions to target audiences and benefits gained both for themselves and other participants. All
hosts who responded to the survey reported positive experiences and the
majority indicated they would be happy to host further sessions. Some
examples are as follows:
“The information was both informative and also provided an in-depth
knowledge of a lived experience with opportunity to ask questions and
explore the content.” (Multi-Cultural service)
“It was sensational. The class really enjoyed the insights of experts in the
field and the lived experience. Thank you so much. Particularly, we
appreciate the availability of attending in the evening time slot. Our group
doesn’t get much access to guest speakers due to the time frame, so this
was very much appreciated and speaks to the passion and commitment
of both Kate and Ned.” (TAFE-Teacher)
“We are very thankful at Biripi men’s group for the GIS taking the time to
liaise/organise this productive presentation and most certainly for the
speakers that took their time out to present. Would hope to see GIS to
present to new clients in our community.” (Aboriginal Medical Service)
“Information was presented in an easy conversational format.”
(Community Service)
“I think they expanded the ideas and provided a priceless real live aspect
for the students. I’m sure compassion and empathy was developed in
listening to the lived experience of both Kate and Ned. It was a very
moving experience.” (TAFE-Teacher)
“Staff commented that the presentation was interesting and expanded
their previous thoughts about gambling harm”. (Community Service)
‘We will be looking at resources and various approaches to better engage
the community”. (Multi-Cultural service)
“The breadth of experience within the industry and discussion of
structural aspects was certainly powerful when listening to Kate talk, as
was the discussion of the impacts on the wider systems, partners,
children, workplaces, finances, mental health etc.” (TAFE-teacher)
Overall, the community educations sessions are well received by audiences as Illustrated in this final comment:
I liked that it was presented by people with lived experience in a format that was easy for us to access and listen. The information was comprehensive but not complicated in its delivery so easy to follow and understand. Very valuable information on the impacts of gambling on broader community right to personal level. Very articulate and well thought out, great informative discussion with a wealth of knowledge and experience in their content.” (TAFE NSW)