Easy and isolating
Michelle felt vulnerable and took comfort
in some ‘harmless’ gaming, but a
destructive habit was taking hold
M
Although GamCare has been in
operation for more than 20 years,
until recently the two treatment
services more known to health
professionals were Gordon Moody
Association, which offers 12-week
courses of residential care, and
Central and North West London
(CNWL) NHS Trust’s London Problem
Gambling Clinic.
As recently as 2018, the Gambling
Commission stated that the
‘absence of any other dedicated NHS provision is striking’. 24 Now, however,
a wider network of options is being provided by the National Gambling
Treatment Service. This includes another service designed to help people
with more serious and complex needs – as with CNWL – which is delivered
by Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with
GamCare. Further services funded by NHS England are scheduled to open in
Manchester and Sunderland in 2020, with more to follow.
The first dedicated NHS gambling clinic for children has also been
announced as part of the NHS long-term plan, to be provided by CNWL.
Treatment
services should be
providing ‘the right
mix of a broad
range of options’
We established our first gambling
peer support hub in 2014, the first
accredited outreach programme
for gamblers the following year
and in 2016 we launched the Don’t
Gamble with Health project, which
set up support referral services
inside betting shops, trained shop
staff, and received an award from
the Royal Society for Public Health.
We now have a second support
hub and are launching a peer
support programme in partnership
with GamCare called Peer Aid,
where people with lived experience
will be co-designing and managing
the project. We also provide training
and consultancy work – with the
gambling operators but also with
sectors like finance and housing.
WWW.DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS.COM
Time and again
we hear from
clients that they’ll
only expose their
gambling when
they can speak to
someone... who
understands the
associated shame
and isolation
y gambling began
in 2014. When I
started talking to a
counsellor I got my
laptop out and went through my
emails. I thought I’d used two
companies – I’d actually used
nine. I lost £550,000 on games in
less than three years.
I had a history of trauma
and being abused and had been
diagnosed with PTSD. I would
drink and have always felt ‘up
and down’. National Lottery
Scratchcards triggered my
gambling. I took out loans – it
was so easy and shouldn’t be. I
did things I regret every day and
eventually I lost the house. My
partner is older than me and has
had to stop work with arthritis,
so we’ll have to go on housing
benefit. If I didn’t have my
daughter, I wouldn’t be here.
Gambling is the most
devastating, fast, destructive
thing. It changes everything,
every relationship, and not for the
better. Every day I feel bad about
it – the devastation I caused
Community work is funded through
grants and donations, while training
and consultancy services provide
another income stream. Our
accredited training courses include
themes such as safeguarding and
understanding gambling co-
morbidities – tough issues tackled
by combining lived experience with
evidence-based approaches. One
of our key strategies is upskilling
other organisations to work with
this issue – we work with health,
community and charity partners to
train staff and enhance awareness.
Our support is very much
person-centred, addressing co-
morbidities and triggers. What
we’re really proud of is that we
have staff who’ve been through our
others by my actions doesn’t
make sense. Everything you don’t
want to be, you become.
With online gambling it’s
so easy and isolating, and you
can spend a loan very quickly.
After I spent £440,000 one of
the companies finally did an
affordability check, but they
make you a VIP when you are
spending at high levels. And
if I tried to stop they’d give
me incentives – money in my
account, Argos vouchers, Red
Letter Days – to start again.
I thought I’d used
two companies
– I’d actually
used nine. I lost
£550,000 on
games in less
than three years
services and are now employed by
us. Time and again we hear from
clients that they’ll only expose their
gambling when they can speak to
someone who is going to be non-
judgmental and who understands
the associated shame and isolation.
We treat referrals as a 999 call. We
know it could be the next gambling
binge that loses that person their
home or their savings, and we’ll
respond with an offer of support
within 48 hours.
We’re huge advocates for the
power of lived experience. We don’t
just want people telling their story –
it’s also about creating opportunity
for those who’ve lived through
trauma and now want to help
prevent gambling-related harms.
WIDER HEALTH SERIES • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • 7