GambleAware Central Sydney would like to extend to you an invite to the September edition in our series of Journal Club Webinars for 2023. It will be held 9am Thursday 7 September.

The webinar is titled Gambling in and after custody: Key challenges and insights from the Compulsary Drug Treatment Centre. We will be discussing how gambling presents within correctional centres, along with the challenges inmates face from their initial incarceration through to release back into the community. Another discussion will be working with clients who are attending treatment as part of their parole conditions.

Clinical supervisor Christopher Hunt from the University of Sydney's GambleAware clinic will be hosting the webinar. He will be joined by Karen Hindmarch and Denise Constantinou.

If you have any questions that you’d liked answered, you can email them ahead of time to Christopher Hunt ([email protected]) or bring them on the day.

Speakers Bios

Karen Hindmarch is the Parole Unit Leader at the Compulsory Drug Treatment Correctional Centre (CDTCC) on the Parklea correctional complex. Karen started her frontline public service role 20 years ago, with the first 8 years working as a social worker at Housing NSW. For the past 12 years she has worked as a Parole Officer with NSW Corrective Services in various roles including Drug Court, Community Service Organiser, Throughcare & Placement Team Leader at Nunyara Transitional Centre Long Bay, Generalist Parole Team Leader and her current role at the CDTCC.

Denise Constantinou is a Forensic Psychologist, and the ‘Senior Psychologist’ and ‘Team Leader – Programs’ at the Compulsory Drug Treatment Correctional Centre (CDTCC). She commenced employment with Corrective Services NSW almost 22 years ago, working with female offenders, young adult offenders (18-25 years) and serious offenders. Since 2008, Denise has specialised in working with drug-related offenders at the CDTCC, who meet DSM-5 criteria for Severe Substance Use Disorder. She provides clinical oversight of client care and case management, and quality assurance regarding the delivery of evidence-based therapeutic programs and reporting to the Drug Court of NSW. In 2023, Denise was named on the Australia Day Honours List and awarded an Australian Corrections Medal for her contribution to offender rehabilitation. She also works in the private sector to provide individual intervention to general community members, as well as clinical supervision to groups of case managers working with people experiencing homelessness.

Christopher Hunt: is the Senior Clinical Supervisor at the University of Sydney's GambleAware clinics, which are responsible for co-ordinating government-funded gambling treatment throughout Central, Western and South-Western Sydney, operating out of the University's Brain and Mind Centre. Dr Hunt first began work at the University in the then-titled Gambling Treatment Clinic in early 2007. He has published work on clinical phenomena observed in gambling clients, has been asked to testify before both federal and state parliamentary committees on gambling, has been quoted on gambling in local, national and international media, and has written several pieces on gambling for lay audiences.

Funding for this project is provided by the NSW Office of Responsible Gambling