How we help

Four programmes, and the honest version of what each one involves

Nothing here is a package you buy blind. Every programme is described session by session, with what it produces at the end, so you can decide before you speak to anybody.

For: For the person who gambles
Length: 12 weekly sessions, 50 minutes each
Format: Video, telephone or in person (Manchester)

One-to-one therapy

A structured course of individual therapy that starts with stabilising the immediate financial and emotional damage, then works back through the beliefs and habits that keep the cycle turning.

The first two sessions are practical. We map where money is going, put blocking and self-exclusion in place, and agree who else needs to know. Nothing about this stage is about willpower.

Sessions three to eight use cognitive behavioural therapy to take apart the specific thoughts that precede a bet — the near-miss reasoning, the chasing logic, the belief that one more result settles everything.

The closing sessions build a relapse plan you actually believe in: known triggers written down, a first-hour response, and two named people you will contact.

What you leave with

A written, personal relapse-prevention plan
Blocking software and self-exclusion in place across every account
A realistic debt conversation started with the right agency

Ask about this programme

For: For the people affected by someone else’s gambling
Length: 6 to 10 sessions, 60 minutes each
Format: Video or in person, together or separately

Family & partner therapy

Gambling harm rarely stops at one person. This programme is for partners, parents and adult children who are carrying the financial and emotional aftermath — whether or not the person gambling is ready for help.

You do not need the person who gambles to attend. A great deal of useful work happens with the affected person alone, and many of our family clients come to us before any disclosure has been made.

We work on the two questions that dominate this situation: how to stop absorbing financial damage without abandoning someone you love, and how to rebuild trust at a pace that is honest rather than hopeful.

Where both parties attend, sessions are structured so that disclosure happens once, fully, with a clinician in the room — rather than in instalments over months.

What you leave with

Clear financial boundaries that are agreed rather than imposed
A shared, written understanding of what disclosure will look like
Support for children in the household, referred on where specialist input is needed

Ask about this programme

For: For people who have already begun
Length: 8 weekly sessions, 90 minutes each
Format: Closed online group, maximum eight members

Facilitated group programme

A clinician-led closed group for people who have had a period of abstinence and want to protect it. Groups are small, closed for the full eight weeks, and never open to drop-ins.

Every group is facilitated by a registered therapist. This is not an unmoderated forum, and members are not left to advise one another unsupervised.

The curriculum runs across shame, secrecy, money repair, boredom and the specific danger of the first big win after a break.

Members are screened individually before joining. If a group is not the right container for someone at that moment, we say so and offer individual work instead.

What you leave with

Weekly accountability with people at a comparable stage
Practice at saying the difficult sentence out loud before saying it at home
A step down to monthly aftercare at the end of the eight weeks

Ask about this programme

For: For anyone who has finished a programme with us
Length: Monthly, open-ended
Format: Video, 45 minutes

Aftercare & relapse response

Recovery is not a finish line. Aftercare keeps a clinician in your calendar at a low frequency, and gives you a same-week appointment if something slips.

A lapse is information, not a verdict. Clients in aftercare can request a same-week session at no additional cost when a lapse happens — because the days immediately after are when the damage compounds.

Monthly sessions review the relapse plan against real life: a new job, a bereavement, a house move, the football season starting again.

Aftercare ends when you decide it ends. There is no minimum term and no cancellation charge.

What you leave with

Same-week appointment guarantee after a lapse
Quarterly review of blocking, self-exclusion and account status
A standing invitation back into a group if you want one

Ask about this programme

Where most people begin

A free 20-minute call with a clinician. No form, no obligation, no sales pitch.

We will ask what has been happening and tell you honestly whether we are the right service for you. If we are not, we will tell you exactly where to go instead — We reply to every enquiry within one working day.

Book an intake call 0161 496 0184

Prefer to stay anonymous? The National Gambling Helpline is free on 0808 8020 133, 24 hours a day.