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Hi Christopher

Firstly I’m very sorry to hear you are in the wars with this addiction; it is not easy and I certainly recognise this from my own experiences.

You may wish to consider practical steps at this point. You could look at it as a ‘line in the sand’ moment.

It’s recognising, perhaps, what you want to do and need to do, two very different things.

You want to stop this,  it sometimes can’t. You’re drawn back in.

However, you need to stop. You recognise, I’m sure, that this addiction is no good for you (and probably those around you) and so you need to deal other it.

What you *need* to do overrules what you might not necessarily *want* to do (and when I say want, I mean still do, even if you don’t overtly want to).

Establishing that you need to do this, then it’s time to take stock.

- Consider phoning Gamcare. Talk it through. Express how you’re feeling. I think this might be really helpful to you.

- Consider totting up all of your debts. I mean all of them. See exactly where you stand. You might want to consider consolidating the loans or seeking help with Stepchange. You may wish to bring the matter up with Gamcare on your call.

- The impacts to others. If there are others impacted; family, friends etc. you may wish to consider sharing the problem. However, do exercise caution and ensure who you share with will understand and it’s in your and their interests to do so. So think about this but it could be a good move. Everyone want you to get back to the real you, not blighted by this.

- Think of the benefits of going into recovery. The time saved, the energy not wasted, the piece of mind, less angst, stress….

- Blockers. What can you do so that you can’t gamble even if you wanted to? Money management, online gaming banning software; consider practical steps with Gamcare.

(Notice I didn’t mention money there. Of course, money is wasted - we both know that - but it’s all the other things that matter too.)

These are just a few opening thoughts from me. Wishing you all the best.

Hi there. I would open up to close family and very abruptly stop all types of risky financial activity I mean all a complete freeze on any transactions all control away from you blocks everywhere and a plan to meet daily living expenses done

  Then it’s diet exercise breathing zones and getting out socially in the local community let’s break the programme that’s set in you start today right now

  wishing you best

It was very hard for me to make the decision to stop gambling this time due to my debt. I believed that I needed to win big to pay off my debts and then i would stop. But the day never came. Actually it did but then I gambled it away again.

Day 3 no gambling. No access to it but all I can think about now is how long it's going to take to pay off 20k debt. My life is ruined but maybe I can save my mental health.