Safeguarding leads in Wales explored the impact of gambling and of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) at this month’s Safeguarding Lead Support Forum in Cardiff.
Hosted at Sport Wales and delivered with the Ann Craft Trust, the day was an opportunity to build connections and share ideas and experiences.
Two insightful speakers met our audience of safeguarding leads from sport NGBs and other organisations across Wales and beyond.
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Rob Parker and Helen Morgan spoke about gambling related harm, the impacts on young people and the links with sport.
As community engagement manager in Wales for Ara Recovery For All, Rob uses his own lived experience and struggles with gambling to raise awareness of the issues. Helen works for Ara's youth programme Ahead of the Game, which targets young people and youth professionals.
They described how, through video gaming, buying loot boxes, online influencers and cryptocurrency trading, young people are now exposed to gambling and gambling-like activities at much earlier ages.
The session also explored the relationship between gambling and sports, discussing the impacts of widespread advertising and the mental health of sport professionals.
Supporting young people with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)
David Curtis came from ACE Hub Wales, which aims to make Wales a world leader in preventing, tackling and reducing the impacts of ACEs and trauma.
He talked about adverse childhood experiences, and the impact of being exposed to them.
“ACEs are stressful experiences occurring during childhood that directly harm a child (e.g. sexual or physical abuse) or affect the environment in which they live (e.g. growing up in a house with domestic violence).”
Adverse Childhood Experience and their Impact on Health-Harming Behaviours in the Welsh Adult Population (Bellis, Ashton, Hughes, Ford, Bishop and Paranjothy)
For every 100 adults in Wales, 50 have suffered at least one ACE during childhood, and 14 suffered four or more. David showed findings which suggest that adults with four or more ACE’s are many times more likely to experience and commit violence, be a high-risk drinker and use crack cocaine or heroin.
David described how young people who have experienced trauma and adverse childhood experiences may express this through challenging negative behaviour. He shared strategies that sports clubs and coaches can use to support young people with this, such as emotion coaching and PLACE and the importance of 'connection before correction'.
Image: Sport Wales building, Cardiff. DaHuzyBru, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons