According to a member of the district health board, Tairāwhiti gambling addicts and communities are facing a turbulent period of uncertainty because of lacking free support services. Meredith Akuhata-Brown, a board member of Hauora Tairāwhiti, has shared that the risk of people suffering gambling-related harm without the necessary support along with the problems the entire community was facing, highlighted the need for a free support service to be re-established for problem gamblers.
There has not been a government-funded service aimed at helping gambling addicts in the region since September 2018 when the contract between the Ministry of Health and the former provider of the service Te Ara Tika Trust was voluntarily ceased. Now, it appears that the Ministry is also worried about the lack of free support service for local problem gamblers, so it has taken into consideration unveiling a temporary solution as the DHB is trying to recruit employees for the service.
Ms Akuhata-Brown has asked whether another organisation in the region could be given the contract in the meantime in order for a suitable service to be provided. She revealed to a local media that she intended to raise the issue at the following meeting of Hauora Tairāwhiti’s board that is set to take place on February 25th.
DHB-Run Service Was Supposed to Start Operation in November
Tuta Ngarimu, Nati4Life Trust manager, has also shared there is an increasing need for a government-funded problem gambling service in Gisborne, especially considering the fact that millions of dollars are being spent by local people on the poker machines available in the district on an annual basis.
As revealed by Nicola Ehau, a planning and funding manager of Hauora Tairāwhiti, a two-year contract that officially started on August 1st, 2019, was accepted by the DHB, with the provision of the service expected to eventually return to a community provider. The agreement was reached after the Ministry asked the DHB for help to re-establish a Tairāwhiti-based problem gambling service.
Reportedly, the DHB-operated service was set to start operation in November, once a health promotion adviser and a counsellor had been chosen. However, as Casino Guardian already reported, there were no suitable candidates for the positions, although the jobs have been advertised several times. The fact that the Ministry had retained payments for the problem gambling service was confirmed by Richard Taylor, an addiction manager at the Ministry of Health. Unfortunately, the lack of appropriate candidates has also been decisive at the time.
Temporary options could also be considered in case the latest recruitment process of the DHB was not successful. According to reports, the DHB was reviewing the vacant jobs and considering ways to make sure candidates meet the requirements for the job. So far, the addictions team of the DHB had provided problem gambling counselling to individuals who had been also suffering alcohol or drug addictions.
- Author
Daniel Williams
