We are running our next Voluntary Sector Children’s Service Forum (VSCSF), 10am – 12pm on Monday 24 March via MS Teams.

We are delighted to be collaborating with Ygam to provide fully funded training at the forum, focusing on gaming and gambling harms experienced by children and young people.

Please see below a few details about Ygam:

“Ygam are an award-winning national charity working to prevent children and young people from experiencing gaming and gambling harms. Our mission is to ‘Safeguard our Digital Generation’ by providing fully funded gaming and gambling awareness training for staff who work with children and young people. Ygam was founded 10 years ago through the lived experience of our founders Anne and Keith who unfortunately lost their son, Alan Lockhart, to suicide in 2010 after suffering for over 25 years with a gambling addiction. Together, they were determined to use education as a tool to raise awareness and help safeguard future generations against gaming and gambling harms.

“Fast forward 10 years, Ygam has grown exponentially across the UK and Northern Ireland to provide fully funded, City and Guilds Assured workshops on gaming and gambling harms for staff who work with children and young people. We deliver a variety of programmes and adopt a ‘train the trainer’ model to raise awareness around gaming and gambling harms and the comorbidities that exist between them. Our work extends beyond our training, for every delegate that attends our training, we provide access to over 1,000 award winning complimentary, downloadable, and cross-curricular resources as well as access to our Alumni Programme where you can access further workshops on topics such as loot boxes, lived experience, cryptocurrency, and monetisation in gaming.”

This workshop will focus on:

an overview of how young people growing up in a tech-savvy environment are increasingly exposed to gaming and gambling and how these activities have become normalised and part of everyday culture
to understand the influence of advertising, particularly around sporting events
the role of social media, in-game purchases, loot boxes and Esports before unpacking the signs to look out for when an individual is at risk and where to seek help
how to spot and recognise the signs of gaming and gambling harms

The training will:

increase awareness of advertising and sponsorship along with an understanding of in-game purchases (microtransactions), social media and the blurred lines between the online / offline world
equip VSCSF members with the knowledge and confidence to spot the signs of harm, start informed safeguarding conversations and signpost to support when needed
enable free access to award winning complimentary, downloadable, and cross-curricular resources. These include lesson plans, schemes of work, PowerPoints, tutorials (all aligned to the PSHE curriculum from KS2-5), and over 100 youth work activities as well as awareness sessions on topics such as age-appropriate content
provide access to Ygam’s parent hub

This training is open for third sector staff and volunteers working with children, young people, and families.

Benefits of attending this training:

increasing your safeguarding knowledge and confidence
receive your City and Guilds certificate and digital credential
feel confident to have conversations with children, young people, and parents about gaming and gambling harms and know where to signpost for support
further free content on specific gambling and gaming content, keeping you updated with the latest information in this space

!!Important!! To attend this session, please book your place by completing Ygam’s online workshop form. It is important to register here in order to receive your City and Guilds Certificate and other resources from Ygam about the training.

If you have any questions about the workshop, registration or the Forum, please contact Eloise Wilson by email: eloise.wilson@cvsfalkirk.org.uk