Many of the people who are experiencing problems with gambling report that they do not use their leisure time well. The obvious question is "Why not?", but based on Borderlands Cooperative’s work on the Gambler’s Help Southern Recreation Project, we should also be asking:

· "What do the terms leisure and recreation actually mean?"

· "How does motivation impact on attitudes about and participation in recreation?"

· "Is selling leisure as a commodity the best approach?

The Project included the surveying of Gambler’s Help Southern Clients, drawing out some interesting findings, such as the one below:

Eleven of the 16 GHS Service Users reported being happy with their leisure options, however 12 also said that there were other ways they would like to be spending their leisure time. While this appears to be paradoxical, further analysis of the responses revealed that, while most were not satisfied with their current leisure and recreation activities, they did not generally attribute this to a lack of ‘things to do’. (p. 60)

That said, the project found that information about leisure and recreation options is a necessary part of the process of facilitating participation in alternative forms of leisure. Consequently, Recreation Brochures for the southern metropolitan region, headed "Do It!", "For Night Owls & Early Birds", "Not on My Own" and "What’s On?" were developed by Borderlands from a recreation database and distributed via the Gambler’s Help Southern Counselling team. These have been well received by Clients.

The Full Report includes a literature review, details of the community consultations and a comprehensive list of recommendations. The Report, the Executive Summary and the Recreation Brochures are available at www.ghsouthern.org.au in the Recreation Portal.