Project to Help Young Immigrants with Gambling Addiction (abbreviated to MaPe based on the project title in Finnish) is a pilot project funded by RAY (Finland™s Slot Machine Association). The project is targeted at young immigrants who have lost the control of their gambling. Gambling addiction is not just about spending too much money on slot machines. It has many other negative impacts on persons and families involved.

Unfortunately problem gambling is not always easy to identify. We work to increase the awareness of the signs and risks of gambling among the young people. We want to remind those in need that is possible to recover from gambling addiction.

Project to Help Young Immigrants with Gambling Addiction 2007-“2009

Project to Help Young Immigrants with Gambling Addiction (abbreviated to MaPe based on the project title in Finnish) is a pilot project funded by RAY (Finland™s Slot Machine Association). The project is targeted at young immigrants who have lost the control of their gambling. Gambling addiction is not just about spending too much money on slot machines. It causes various serious harmeffects on individulas and families involved.

Unfortunately problem gambling is not always easy to identify. Our aims include increasing the awareness of the signs and risks of gambling among young people - and encourage those affected to aim for recovery from gambling addiction.

What do we provide?

During autumn 2009 we still provide individual counselling to problem gamblers as well as to their families and close friends. We help people stuck in the cycle of gambling to get their lives back on track. All our services are free of charge and the clients can remain anonymous.

Who is MaPe aimed at?

Even though MaPe is primarily aimed at young people with immigrant background we offer consultation for all young problem gamblers. We can also accommodate non-immigrant youngster on our rehabilitation programme if any spaces remain.

Why is there a need for this project?

To date there has not been studies on how common gambling problems are among the group of young immigrants. However, they are among the regular customers at game arcades. It is known that there is a higher incidence of problem gambling amongst teenagers (in particular between ages of 15 and 17) than there is amongst adults. More and more studies are showing that adults with gambling problems started their gambling at an early age. In particular risk group to develop gambling addiction are the youngsters who have problems at school or in their relationships with parents or peers.

Young immigrants are at risk of becoming marginalised and it has been noted that they rarely seek support from the healthcare networks. Rehabilitation aimed at a specific group is needed as the already existing services for problem gamblers in Finland have proved insufficient and randomly produced.

We aim to deliver up-to-date information on dangers and consequences of gambling to schools and other professionals who work with young people. This should help to prevent future problems as well as enable problem gamblers to seek help at an early stage.

Services available in three languages

Our project operates in Helsinki and Vaasa regions. Our services are available in three languages (English, Finnish and Swedish). Interpreters can be used when required.

The rehabilitation method

The Foundation of Social Pedagogy has 10 years™ experience in treating gambling addictions. In MaPe project an existing rehabilitation model developed during an earlier project is merged with model of cognitive behavioural therapy (KBT), which has been used for years to treat gambling addicts in a therapy centre in Stockholm.