Sharp rise in number of gamblers seeking help

This post came out from The Straits Times (23 November 2015)

More people here are seeking help to break the chains of addiction, especially those who are hoping to quit gambling.

Last year, the National Addictions Management Service (Nams) at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) treated 1,700 new patients - a 37 per cent jump over the 1,245 new cases seen four years ago in 2010, when Nams was first set up.

While drug addicts last year formed the largest group of new cases in Nams, at 39 per cent, the sharpest rise was in the number of gamblers seeking help. The overall growth is "encouraging as it indicates an increased willingness to seek help", said the vice-chairman of Nams' medical board, Dr Christopher Cheok, at an event at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital yesterday to mark National Addictions Awareness Day.

He said people are more aware of the platforms offering help, such as helplines, as Nams expands its community partnerships. While there has been a spike in the number of people seeking help for addiction over the years, Dr Cheok said there are still some who are not being helped.

Nams has tried to makes its services more accessible by extending them beyond IMH and its satellite clinics in some polyclinics. Since August, it has stationed a counsellor with Credit Counselling Singapore, a charity which helps people with debt problems, one day a week. This is so that if its clients' debt issue rose out of a gambling addiction, the Nams counsellor can intervene more quickly.

Likewise, there is a Nams counsellor at Club Heal in Bukit Batok, a voluntary welfare organisation which helps people with mental illness.

Yesterday, Nams launched its education arm - the Addiction Recovery College - to engage the public on addiction prevention as well as treatment and wellness options. A range of courses, workshops and resources will be provided at IMH for the public and practitioners in the field of addictions.

Thoughts:

1. Something came to my mind when I was thinking about the post - with decentralisation, or the opening of more centres, how far would it help to attract people with needs to come forward to seek help?
2. No doubt this can make it easier, but everything needs two hands to clap. How can we reduce the stigma so that people can face these problems positively and acknowledge that it is something that they can work on and resolve?

Thoughts anyone?

Yours,

Something Small Thinking Big