Reducing the Odds: Strategies for Engaging Adolescents in Prevention

July 22, 20261:00pm - 4:00pm
Reducing the Odds: Strategies for Engaging Adolescents in Prevention

Rising youth involvement in sports betting, online gaming, and in-game purchases underscores the urgent need for stronger gambling prevention. This session introduces a comprehensive approach that combines storytelling, interactive activities, screening tools, and strategies to engage, adolescents, parents and communities. It highlights a new initiative developed with a nonprofit dedicated to reducing mental health stigma, integrating the lived experience of an individual in recovery with psychoeducation from a mental health professional. Drawing on proven strategies, the session aims to show how to correct misconceptions, increase perceived risks, strengthen disapproval, and leverage major sports events to enhance engagement.

Learning Objectives

  • Explain the relationship between youth gambling and mental health, including how stigma reduction, lived experience, and psychoeducation strengthen prevention efforts.
  • Identify and apply prevention strategies to correct misconceptions, increase perceived risks, and leverage major sports events to enhance youth engagement.

Speaker

Session Track

  • Prevention