Peer Support Gambling
Members of our online peer support community have collated a list of strategies they recommend to help you take control of your gambling. We've collected a selection of their tips below.
- Peer Support Gambling Addiction
- Peer Support Gambling Definition
- Gambling Peer Support
- Peer Support Gambling Support
Our community is made up of almost 9500 Australians. The My Story area is a space for those concerned about their own gambling to share stories, experiences and support. It’s made up of people with different personal goals, from cutting down, completing 100 days gamble-free, to quitting gambling altogether. Our members are all at different stages of their journey — from people who feel strong after years of not gambling to those who are beginning to recognise an issue, and everywhere in between.
Together, they have created the following list of their own tried and tested tips to make change.
Gam-Anon is peer support for family members and friends of people with gambling problems. It helps them cope, stop blaming themselves for the person’s gambling problems, and focus on their own health and well-being. Peer Aid is designed, developed and delivered by individuals with lived experience of gambling harms. The service will be able to provide both one to one and group support to complement the support and treatment you receive with GamCare. A growing method of treatment is peer support. With the advancement of online gambling, many gamblers experiencing issues use various online peer-support groups to aid their recovery. This protects their anonymity while allowing them to attempt recovery on their own, often without having to disclose their issues to loved ones. Peer Connection is a free, confidential and easy to access telephone peer support service for people struggling to stop/control their gambling and for people impacted by another person’s gambling. “These calls keeps me on the right road”. Problem Gamblers Peer Support These groups will ALWAYS be run by someone who has personal experience of overcoming problem gambling. Problem gamblers can offload in these groups and be as frank as they like knowing the people they are with have been there too. You can access the group at any time whilst it's running.
Forgive yourself
Take it a day a time.
Getting through an urge
Count backwards from 300. “It sounds really simple and probably a bit unlikely... But it really worked... It's surprising.”
Peer Support Gambling Addiction
Protect your money
- Open up another bank account and only put a limited amount in it; or
- Give someone control of your money: “Having someone manage ALL my money has been my saving grace. There have been lots of times I've wanted to gamble but with super strict access to money it was not an option.
Peer Support Gambling Definition
Try new hobbies
“It doesn’t sound like much and really takes a lot of effort to get motivated till it becomes second nature”, “definitely taking up new or old hobbies is a must.”
Get in the kitchen
Buy ingredients you’ve never bought before and try new recipes.
Spend time in the garden
Buy yourself some plants and keep busy with them.
Gambling Peer Support
Read
“I read and read and read in my first 8-9 months gamble free. I think I read something like 40 books or more.”
Spend time with your loved ones
“I robbed my family of time spent gambling so I've been paying them back by spending much more valuable time with them”.
Know your triggers
For example, if you're into sports betting, be cautious of visiting websites ‘just to look at odds’, and consider cutting back on watching sports.
Peer Support Gambling Support
If you're thinking about making steps to change your gambling, you can read more about Change strategies or join the community today.