YMCA of Greater Toronto
The YMCA Youth Gambling Awareness Program (YGAP) is a free service funded by Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care offering educational prevention programs to youth and adults involved in young people’s lives on gambling awareness including potential risks, making informed decisions and healthy and active living.
YGAP provides a multi-faceted and innovative approach to problem gambling prevention through outreach, community education, and community awareness activities like community involvement events and youth engagement projects.
YGAP offers awareness raising programming in French and English for youth ages of 8-24 as well as adults, parents and professionals. Content of youth workshops are developmentally appropriate, interactive, fun and engaging for classroom, community centers, and camp settings. Workshops can be booked individually, or as a series.
For more information visit workshop options.
YGAP partners with local education and treatment service providers, local youth services agencies and mental health & addiction services and is a constant presence at community health fairs and information events continuing the program mission to promote healthy active living, informed decision making and education and prevention of youth problem gambling.
Please contact the YGAP Youth Outreach Worker in your area if you’d like to invite YGAP to a health fair or event!
By conducting research, literature reviews and impact studies YGAP develops relevant evidence-based program materials:
The "Beyond Betting" audio series tackles the topic of player packs in video games such as Madden, Fifa, NBA 2K. Player packs are an in-game feature added to game modes in some video games. Player pack openings are completely random and include an element of risk when using real money or in-game currency to purchase them. The first installment in the series features harm reduction strategies and real-world advice for people playing these types of video games.
Reach the Toll-free YGAP Directory 1-877-525-5515 or contact the youth outreach worker in your area to book a presentation and learn more about the program:
YGAP workshop options include a variety of offerings to align with the mandate of the gambling education and prevention. The common denominator amongst these tools is the fluidity of the content, always improving to stay relevant and up to date.
Learn more about the changing world of gambling and the risk to young people. Youth today are growing up in a society where gambling is legalized, easily accessible, actively promoted, glamourized and generally presented as harmless entertainment. We offer 60 to 90 minute workshops for the following topics:
In addition to awareness raising workshops, YGAP provides other opportunities for youth and community members to become more involved by offering:
YGAP Advisory Committee is an integral part of YGAP across the province. Committee members are volunteers who work cooperatively with YGAP by offering advice on areas such as potential networking and partnership opportunities, information about the local community and gambling trends, feedback on activities to be included in workshops, and helping to raise awareness of the program in the community. Committees are typically made up of youth service providers, addiction and mental health service providers, educators, credit counselors, and youth. What are the benefits of participating as an YGAP Advisory Committee Member?
For more information, please visit www.youthbet.com. Download the YGAP program brochure. (PDF). To learn more about YMCA Youth programs call 416-928-9622 or 1-800-223-8024 or contact us at memberservices@ymcagta.org