An Initiative of Betknowmore UK and The Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health (MACGH), the GRIN program reduces the impact of gambling problems and improves products and processes with firsthand knowledge of people that have been players and experienced harm related to their play. GRIN offers a lived experience perspective from a diverse range of individuals from across North America, the UK, and Europe, paying special attention to ethnocultural and geographic considerations. They are people that have experienced gambling problems either in their own lives or as a concerned significant other of someone that has struggled with gambling. After being recruited through word of mouth or through recovery channels on social media, they are then hired and trained to be GRIN Peer Specialists and/or Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) members. We currently have a diverse group of Peer Specialists and LEAP members. As GRIN Peer Specialists they offer the following non-judgmental and personalized services based on the needs of the people asking for help. Examples of services offered by GRIN:

• Follow-up to Voluntary Self-Exclusion (or another referral source such as a helpline)
  Peers provide a phone or email check-in to ensure the person has the right resources to support them in gambling harm minimization.
• Telephone Recovery Support
  TRS is a ten-session weekly check-in call that is offered as part of the VSE and/or the Helpline program. Peers Specialists offer connection and accountability towards harm minimization goals for up to 10 sessions.
• Recovery Coaching for Participants in Telehealth Programs
  Offered by peers that are certified recovery coaches, the recovery coaches will meet with current or past clients of telehealth services offering gambling treatment to achieve success in goals set around behavior change, wellness and financial health.
• Group Peer Support for Clients
  By peers, for peers, these groups are meant to be inclusive and follow a different topic each session. The group can have regular members, and/or can have people that drop-in. These are not meant to replace nor mimic 12-step program meetings but offer additional support around behavior change and decrease isolation and stigma of those experiencing harm.
• Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP)
  LEAP is comprised of 28 diverse members, all who have been impacted by gambling harm. The primary function of LEAP is to advise and provide a recovery centered perspective to a diverse range of gaming industry and social service organizations seeking to integrate lived experience into program planning and development. Advisory Board members act in a capacity to provide insight into gambling harm and recovery, increase harm minimization tools, drive problem gambling awareness, and center the voices of people impacted by gambling disorder within a wide range of projects. Offered weekly or monthly, consultation with LEAP is available as you work to incorporate a lived experience perspective for maximizing player health services offered. Stakeholders have used LEAP as focus groups for communications campaigns and beta testing of recovery-oriented tech products. Researchers have consulted with LEAP members, as have non-profit directors receiving feedback on program creation, delivery and evaluation programs designed for people experiencing gambling harm.

For more information about the Gambling Recovery Information Network and how your organization can leverage the power of lived experience, please fill out the form below.