Chapter title: Gambling and Gambling Treatment in Prisons
Author: Lauren Smith, Ph.D.
Affiliation: University of Lincoln, U.K.
Author: Amanda Roberts, Ph.D.
Affiliation: University of Lincoln, U.K.
Author: Steve Sharman, Ph.D.
Affiliation: King’s College London, U.K.
Author Biographies:
Lauren is a Lecturer in Forensic Psychology in the School of Psychology at The University of Lincoln, UK. Her research interests include gambling in the criminal justice system, families of people in the criminal justice system, and factors influencing resettlement and reintegration of people into the community following conviction. Lauren previously worked as a Practitioner and Manager for a Voluntary Sector Provider in the Criminal Justice System for 13 years, supporting people across courts, prison and probation to resettle and reintegrate into the community. Lauren has also worked on the delivery of HM Prison and Probation Service Offending Behaviour Programmes. Lauren is a member of her local Reducing Offending Core Priority Group and is the Chair of a constituted group developing pioneering work using a Community Chaplaincy model to support people who are at risk of offending in her local community.
Amanda Roberts is an Associate Professor in The School of Psychology at the University of Lincoln, UK, with a Ph.D. in Behavioural Neuroscience from Cardiff University and previous research and lectureship positions at UK academic institutions including Kings College London, The Institute of Psychiatry, Queen Mary University London, The Wolfson Institute, and UEL. She has numerous multidisciplinary national and international collaborations including an honorary research contract at the National Problem Gambling Clinic and a Research Fellowship at the Gambling Addictions Research Centre, AUT, NZ. Amanda’s research interests include the evaluation of gambling addiction treatment programmes both in the community and in UK prisons, and additional interests extend across topics that relate to gambling comorbidity, gambling in vulnerable populations, homelessness, women and gambling, and gambling and interpersonal violence.
Dr. Steve Sharman is a psychologist working as a Research Fellow in Gambling Studies at the National Addiction Centre, King’s College London. His research primarily investigates gambling-related harm and gambling in vulnerable populations. He is also a researcher at the University of East London, where he is a Society for the Study of Addiction Academic Fellow. His research at UEL uses Virtual Reality to investigate within-game constructs, gambling-related cognitions and cognitive distortions, and the influence of these on gambling behaviour. He completed his Ph.D. in Gambling Related Cognitions at the University of Cambridge, having previously completed an MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL and a BSc in Psychology at UEL. Steve works closely with many UK gambling treatment providers including the National Problem Gambling Clinic, is a founder member of the UK Network for Behavioural Addictions (NUK-BA), and is on the Executive Committee for the Current Advances in Gambling Research Conference.
