Redesign includes easier content navigation, enhanced support for online communities of practice and new treatment planning tools for professionals
November 9, 2009.
TORONTO – The newly redesigned Web site of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s (CAMH) Problem Gambling Project goes live today. ProblemGambling.ca aims to strengthen its reach to professionals who come in contact with people experiencing problems. The new Web site features expanded and reorganized content and allows helping professionals to easily register for online communities of practice dedicated to improving the lives of people impacted by problem gambling. The redesign incorporates new navigation and social media tools which improves access and usability of these online professional communities.
“There is such a breadth of expertise and knowledge in the field of problem gambling in Ontario and around the world,” says Robert Murray, Manager of the Problem Gambling Project at CAMH. “We’re continuously working to improve the experience of our online visitors so that more professionals can get the information they need to help people affected by problem gambling.”
New Tools and Content
ProblemGambling.ca still provides hundreds of pages of bilingual information, resources and self help tools for clients and professionals. In addition, handbooks Problem Gambling: The Issues, the Options and Guide for Families have been translated and posted online in over twenty languages. The new layout of the homepage makes it easier for different audiences to access the content they need.
The Inventory of Gambling Situations is a treatment planning tool developed by CAMH scientists and clinicians. It allows addiction therapists to identify the situations in which clients with gambling problems are at risk for relapse. As part of the relaunch, this tool is now available to professionals online.
ProblemGambling.ca Groups allows professionals interested in problem gambling to communicate and collaborate online. Within these online groups, knowledge exchange is facilitated through the use of social media and collaboration tools such as discussion boards, shared document repositories and access to online meetings.
Future Directions
Plans are underway to provide interactive self-help tools for people experiencing problems with gambling. Plans for peer-support social forums and online counselling are priorities for future phases of development.
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Media Contact: Michael Torres, CAMH Media Relations; 416-595-6015 or Media@camh.net
The Problem Gambling Project improves the lives of those negatively affected by gambling by providing specialized resources and services and contributing to the development of highly skilled and knowledgeable professional caregivers in Ontario and beyond.
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as well as one of the world's leading research centres in the area of addiction and mental health. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development, prevention and health promotion to help transform the lives of people affected by mental health and addiction issues.