Counselling for Gambling in London

Counselling for Gambling

Compulsive gambling is the uncontrollable urge to gamble despite the negative impact that it has on you, your life, your friends and family. Compulsive gambling is generally a way of coping with other seemingly unsolvable problems, past or present. Gamblers use the ‘buzz’ of placing a bet to create a short term distraction from the unsolvable problem which quickly dissipates and must be repeated over and over in order to maintain the distraction.

Who Can Gambling Counselling Help?

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Are you unable to stop gambling? Is your gambling having a negative impact on your life? Will you do almost anything in order to place a bet? Does your gambling feel as if it controls you rather than you it? Is your life negatively affected by gambling even if it is not you who is gambling? Do you feel anxious, angry or depressed if something or someone prevents you from gambling?

If you have answered ‘yes’ to one or more of these questions you may have a gambling problem and could benefit from our counselling services for gamblers.

A Recent Testimonial

“I had therapy before but anxiety kept recurring with a higher intensity every time. I was feeling despair, panic and physical exhaustion when I had my first session with Venetia. She helped me to understand my thought process and the impact it was having. She provided me with the techniques to challenge the negative thoughts and learn more helpful ways of thinking. Through our work together I have been able to bring balance and control to my life. Although negative thoughts can flare up at any time I now feel confident that I have the tools and mental strength to manage my emotions. Venetia was highly dedicated and had a genuine commitment and interest in helping me to find solutions. It was very apparent that she was doing a lot of work outside of the sessions to ensure our sessions remained personal and specifically targeted to my own ongoing treatment.”.
Patricia - Clapham

What Does Treatment for Gambling Involve?

Step 1

To begin with one of our Therapists will meet with you to find out more about the nature of your gambling problem and the impact that it has on you and your life. They will also ask some more general questions about you and your current commitments and responsibilities to enable them to understand the context within which your gambling problem exists and to allow them to determine the best treatment programme to support you.

Step 2

Next your Therapist will help you to understand the function that your gambling serves, why the problem developed and why you have been unable to resolve it. Understanding a problem in this way places you in the strongest position to overcome it.

Step 3

Throughout the treatment your Therapist will then teach you strategies to gradually get your gambling addiction under control whilst also beginning to look at ways of resolving the issues that your gambling is distracting you from.

Step 4

Once you no longer gamble as a way of coping with other problems and you have a comprehensive set of alternative coping strategies your Therapists will look at the influences that made you vulnerable to developing a compulsive gambling problem in the first place. They will then support you to temper their impact on you in order to future proof the changes that you have made.

Fees

Prices can be found on our Fees Page. If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to call 0800 002 9068 or fill out a contact form.

Locations

We have clinics in Richmond, Liverpool Street, Clapham, Marylebone, Fulham, Islington, Twickenham, Chiswick, East Dulwich and Nottingham. We also offer Online Counselling via Video.

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Therapists

All of our Therapists offer confidential counselling for Gambling Addiction, click here to view the team.

Facts about Gambling

It is estimated that more than 350,000 people are suffering from compulsive gambling or a gambling addiction.
Every year over 7 billion pounds is spent on gambling in the UK.
Only 1% of people with a gambling problem seek help.

How Do Addictions Develop?

Whilst engaging in the (addictive) behaviour, the sufferer is anaesthetised to emotional pain/distress (the ‘fix’). The behaviour becomes a way (short term) of coping with intolerable distress and discomfort usually caused by self-criticism, self-doubt and low self-esteem. When the sufferer stops the behaviour the relief (the ‘high’) quickly dissipates and their distress returns. In the absence of alternatives, the sufferer will need to once again engage in the behaviour to cope with their distress and a cycle of addiction will develop.