Problem gambling and gambling addiction is a serious but often overlooked issue both in Finland and Cyprus. An estimated 124 000 residents (3,3%) in Finland have a gambling problem and nearly 20% has a relative whose gambling was out of control. A recent school survey showed that 7.1% of eighth and ninth graders said they gambled once or twice weekly. The study released by Cyprus' National Betting Authority in March 2018 showed alarming figures. 13 % of gamblers show symptoms of possible problematic behaviour and 6% can be described as pathological gamblers. Cypriot pupils, both boys and girls gamble the most out of all pupils in the EU.The Cyprus National Addictions Authority has prepared an Action Plan for battling pathological gambling for 2018-2020. Sosped Foundation and YEU Cyprus propose a partnership between two EU countries to share knowledge and best practices, to learn from each other and to develop their activities to better suit working with young people. There's a demand for knowledge, new approaches, effective models and concrete tools that support young people, significant others and families who are suffering from problem gambling. There's also room for new ideas for preventive work among young people. One of the main goals of the exchange of knowledge and best practices is to enhance the access, participation and learning of people who suffer from problem gambling and gambling addiction and people who work with young problem gamblers and their significant others. Especially youth and young adults are in a vulnerable situation to develop gambling problem or gambling addiction. Youth work needs effective methods in reaching out to young people suffering from problem gambling, addressing the risks of gambling and raising awareness among youth, prevention and intervention, fostering volunteering and peer support and experts by experience. Sosped Foundation has gained knowledge of problem gambling and developed effective peer support, training and mentoring models since 2008. Pelirajat'on/Limit'less Gambling is Sosped Foundation's flag ship and it has achieved broad coverage in Finland, rapid growth and proven effectiveness. The next step is to provide the operating model for international use. YEU Cyprus has a long history and strong expertise in organising and delivering training courses and projects on different topics, focusing always on youth development, awareness raising and capacity building. Through exchange of expertise and good practices the project aims to improve the understanding, competence and ability of both organisations to support their target groups and work with young people. This will be the achieved by organising 5-day learning events in Finland and Cyprus. The events will include training, workshops and study visits. The focus will be at developing and promoting quality youth work in both organisations. Main results of the project are empowerment of the participants and learning on three levels: individual participants, professional personnel and organisations. The results will be achieved through transnational meetings and learning events and monitoring and evaluating the project activities. Sosped Foundation will organise a learning event to increase awareness about problem gambling and introduce an effective model for tackling the problem locally. YEU Cyprus will organise a learning event involving new methods to reach young people. The goal is to find new ways to raise awareness among youth and develop non-formal education and experiential learning. YEU CYPRUS 1) 6 trained young people & 4 trained personnel 2) Increased awareness about problem gambling and a model for tackling the problem locally 3) Development of organisation's youth work (problem gamblers and their significant others as new target group, new training, peer support & mentoring models) 4) New perspective & experience in European/Erasmus+ co-operation SOSPED FOUNDATION 1) 6 trained volunteers & experts by experience, 4 trained personnel 2) New & effective methods to reach young people and support them 3) Development of organisation's youth work (young people as a new target group, new training, peer support & mentoring models) 4) New perspective and experience in European/Erasmus+ co-operation Both partners gain awareness of best practices, new ideas and tools to work with current and future target groups. YEU Cyprus employees learn to recognise problem gambling and acquire tools to begin discussions with young people. In Finland Sosped will learn YEU Cyprus'' best practices and adapt them to Sosped's projects and employees professional skills. Impacts will me measured through evaluating TPMs, LTT activities and project as a whole. Project starts February 2019 and ends in January 2020. Learning events will be held in June and August. The evaluation of the project will be done during the autumn of 2019.
Problem gambling and gambling addiction is a serious but often overlooked issue both in Finland and Cyprus. An estimated 124 000 residents (3,3%) in Finland have a gambling problem and nearly 20% has a relative whose gambling was out of control. A recent school survey showed that 7.1% of eighth and ninth graders said they gambled once or twice weekly. The study released by Cyprus' National Betting Authority in March 2018 showed alarming figures. 13 % of gamblers show symptoms of possible problematic behaviour and 6% can be described as pathological gamblers. Cypriot pupils, both boys and girls gamble the most out of all pupils in the EU.The Cyprus National Addictions Authority has prepared an Action Plan for battling pathological gambling for 2018-2020. Sosped Foundation has gained knowledge of problem gambling and developed effective peer support, training and mentoring models since 2008. Pelirajat'on/Limit'less Gambling is Sosped Foundation's flag ship and it has achieved broad coverage in Finland, rapid growth and proven effectiveness. The next step is to provide the operating model for international use. YEU Cyprus has a long history and strong expertise in organising and delivering training courses and projects on different topics, focusing always on youth development, awareness raising and capacity building. Sosped Foundation, together with EU Cyprus have shared knowledge and best practices, to learn from each other and to develop their activities to better suit working with young people. In both countries, there's a demand for knowledge, new approaches, effective models and concrete tools that support young people, significant others and families who are suffering from problem gambling. There's also room for new ideas for preventive work among young people. Through exchange of expertise and good practices the project aimed to improve the understanding, competence and ability of both organisations to support their target groups and work with young people. This was achieved by organizing 5-day learning events in Finland and Cyprus. The events included training, workshops and study visits. The focus was at developing and promoting quality youth work in both organisations. Main results of the project were empowerment of the participants and learning on three levels: individual participants, professional personnel and organisations. The results were achieved through transnational meetings and learning events and monitoring and evaluating the project activities. Sosped Foundation organised a learning event to increase awareness about problem gambling and introduce an effective (peer-support based) model for tackling the problem locally. YEU Cyprus organised a learning event involving new methods to reach young people. The goal was find new ways to raise awareness among youth and develop non-formal education and experiential learning. CENTRAL RESULTS IN BOTH COUNTRIES CYPRUS 1) 6 trained young people & 4 trained personnel 2) Increased awareness about problem gambling and a model for tackling the problem locally 3) Development of organisation's youth work (problem gamblers and their significant others as new target group, new training, peer support & mentoring models) 4) New perspective & experience in European/Erasmus+ co-operation 5) A translated (English) workbook to organize peer-support activities for people suffering from problematic gambling 6) A concrete project idea in order to start raise awareness about problematic gambling SOSPED FOUNDATION 1) 6 trained volunteers & experts by experience, 4 trained personnel 2) New & effective methods to reach young people and support them 3) Development of organisation's youth work (young people as a new target group, new training, peer support & mentoring models) 4) New perspective and experience in European/Erasmus+ co-operation Both partners gained awareness of best practices, new ideas and tools to work with current and future target groups. Both organizations managed to also get strategic partnerships with different organizations involved in the project. YEU Cyprus employees learned to recognize problem gambling and acquire tools to begin discussions with young people. In Finland Sosped's personnel and volunteers learned YEU Cyprus' best practices and adapted them to Sosped's projects and employees professional skills. Project started in February 2019 and ended in January 2020. Learning events were held in June and August. Three Transnational project meetings were held: In March, May and September. The evaluation of the project was done during the autumn of 2019.