Link Health and Community runs program to help gamblers tell their stories
Recovering gambling addicts are telling their confronting gambling stories to live audiences thanks to a program helping them come to terms with their demons. Here’s how it works.
East
Don't miss out on the headlines from East . Followed categories will be added to My News.
A theatre project with a difference is helping people who have endured gambling addiction to share their stories to an audience in a bid to educate and reduce the stigma associated with the condition.
Three Sides of the Coin is helping gamblers battling addiction and their loved ones with creative workshops at various Link Community and Health venues around Monash.
The participants share stories, develop them into theatrical scenarios and perform them to raise public awareness about the harms of gambling.
It’s the brainchild of Preston woman Catherine Simmonds whose work saw her recognised with a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the performing arts in the recent Australia Day honours list.
Ms Simmonds said the idea came about after she read author Arnold Zable’s Ruin to Recovery which anonymously featured the personal stories of people recovering from gambling addiction.
MORE: REGIS’ NEWEST STILL HELPING
ALLEGRA’S FUTSAL DECISION PAYS OFF
VOTE FOR MELBOURNE’S BEST FOOD TRUCK
On the back of the work, she was asked to help put together a segment of the 2013 Melbourne Writers’ Festival featuring people telling their stories in a live setting.
“It’s really just grown from there. We have an established core of seven to eight people who I work and we always have room for new people to come in too,” Ms Simmonds said.
“We just want to educate the community about the harms of gambling and reduce the stigma at the same time.”
Organisers are in the process of introducing new people and new stories to the work and will be running a series of workshops in Monash and Bentleigh just after Easter.