Criminal sanctions clients in Finland receive online treatment for gambling problems

Hi, Sofia! You offer online treatment for gambling problems to criminal sanctions clients all over Finland, could you tell us more about that?

Sofia Holmberg, project manager at RETS

Studies show that prisoners are 5 to 10 times more likely to have gambling problems compared to the rest of the population. By addressing problem gambling among criminal sanctions clients, we aim to reduce recidivism and individual and societal harms caused by gambling. 

In 2019 the Finnish Criminal Sanctions Agency started strengthening their services for community sanctions clients with gambling problems by cooperating with Gambling Clinic in the Helsinki Metropolitan area. In a pilot project, community sanctions officers in Southern Finland were trained to identify signs of gambling problems among their clients and refer them to the Peluuri’s Peli poikki online treatment program as needed.  The results of the pilot showed the importance of addressing gambling problems among community sanctions clients.

And now you’re building on that in a new project?

As a continuum to the pilot project, RETS (RETS Crime-Free Life Support Foundation) started the RISERaPeli-project in October 2021. In the project we will develop our version of the Peli poikki program to meet the needs of criminal sanctions clients who gamble at a problematic or high-risk level. 

Within the project, you’ll continue training criminal sanctions officers to identify signs of gambling problems?

Yes. In collaboration with the Criminal Sanctions Agency we aim to train all criminal sanctions officers to identify signs of problematic gambling behaviour. According to a Finnish study, 85% of prison workers felt that problem gambling is a serious concern among criminal sanctions clients. They also felt that their knowledge to provide help for clients with gambling problems were insufficient. So there’s really a great need.  

What challenges do you think the online treatment program will help you solve?

In 2019 the average daily number of criminal sanctions clients was higher than the number of inmates in Finland. Working online gives us the possibility to intervene quickly and provide help with a very flexible schedule to be able to prevent gambling problems from escalating. We can reach all clients regardless of where they are located and what type of community sanction they are serving.

Why did you choose Sustainable Interaction’s online treatment program?

Peluuri has been running the Peli poikki online treatment program since 2007. After learning from their experiences and looking into their evaluations of the program’s effectiveness, we felt that the program would be very suitable for criminal sanctions clients. We also got very good feedback from Peluuri about the program and working with Sustainable Interaction.