"Valuable and effective support for gambling addiction"

From a young age I have always had an unhealthy attraction to gambling which in retrospect has always been an underlying problem all my life.

On multiple occasions this addiction has exacerbated to result in a severe risk causing financial and mental harm to myself and those around me.

Having suffered from this most of my life it is only now with maturity and recognition / real life experience of the negative effects inflicted on both myself and on those closest to me that I sought professional help to manage this problem and ultimately stop gambling completely.

I consider myself an intelligent individual which perhaps makes the problem even worse as I fully appreciated throughout my indulgences with gambling that when it comes to gambling, there is only one winner and it was not, nor would ever be, me. Despite this knowledge, the thrill, the escape, the engagement and the exhilaration (from the rare win) kept me indulging sporadically in this terrible and potential devastating habit / addiction. Recent episodes of engaging in gambling has left me in a poorer position financially but most importantly, with low self respect from me and those I love. The shame, embarrassment and failing those who not only depend on me but also support me has been terrible and in some instances, overwhelming.

To try and crack this problem for good and to show those closest to me that I am serious about solving this addiction I sought professional help. I will be honest and say that I did not expect to be educated with anything that I did not already know / understand. However, even though many aspects of the therapy course did not present any new information or knowledge to me, attending the courses and working through the specific steps and topics really helped me surface the latent knowledge and understanding I already had into useable, tangible actions I could use to help me break this cycle.

The structured courses helped me recognise, realise and prioritise the key factors in my life that both caused gambling and more importantly, would help prevent gambling in the future. Just attending the course massively helped in maintaining focus to break the habit though this does not diminish the quality content and effective techniques presented by Michelle throughout the sessions.

I would like to thank the NHS and all staff involved but particularly Michelle for this valuable and effective support for a problem that many people would dismiss as just stupid and irresponsible. I would label the practice of gambling in the same way but I can be the first to attest that when you have an addiction, reason and logic takes a back seat. This course helped bring reason and logic to the forefront which when accompanied with a personal desire to change ones behaviour, really helped me focus on positive change.

I am happy to say that I am no longer gambling and I know I have better resilience and techniques to avoid doing so in the future.  Again, thank you Michelle and all those creating and administering this effective therapy.