1 MONTH WITHOUT GAMBLING.
Since I admitted and accepted my gambling problem a wonderful thing has happend. I quit university. I’ve changed my career path drastically to work with young people in need and my ultimate ambition is to create a charity to help young gamblers.
Admitting being a compulsive gambler is still quite raw for me. In my opinion the future is what’s important now. OK, so I had a gambling addiction. I still have gambling urges, but every day I go gamble free I’m not an addict. When I look back at the act of gambling I still have some unanswered questions to why I gambled. Hopefully these will be answered in time. Nobody is perfect. Apart from Cheryl Cole, but that is for another conversation.
This week I spoke to my Dad for the first time who was unaware of the gambling problems I once I had. It’s surprising how supportive people can be; the realisation that nobody is perfect is something which can lead to wonderful things. I have the full support of everyone around me now and it feels brilliant.
It’s a great feeling knowing that people care. This is why I want others who don’t have this support to feel like this. I hope one day to provide that support.Just a week after admitting my problem, I came up with the idea to create my own charity helping young gamblers. At this point in time I have no idea of what path I will take. Will i provide one-to-one help? Will I provide similar help to GA? Will it be teaching education focussed? Who knows but I will find out along the way.
Right now I have no experience in helping young people, teaching people or working with gamblers. These are all skills which can be learnt in time. The old saying “you don’t run before you walk” is true in this instant. I have no idea where to start; I have no idea how to start a charity or organisation to help people. I have no idea if anyone really cares… But I care and I know there is an 18 year old out there this very minute in a bookmakers or online gambling, and not enjoying it. He needs help and I hope one day that help will be me.
I’m sure lots of you ask, what about the support of Gamblers Anonymous? Organisations such as Gamblers Anonymous are brilliant organisations. But they aren’t the be all and end all of helping problem gambling. One drawback I noticed personally is that being young; going into a GA meeting with people your parent’s age can be quite scary. Once inside a GA meeting it’s great to talk and I really do respect all the work they do. But it’s getting a young person to attend meetings which is the problem.How? I do not have a direct answer for that. However, I do believe that educating children on gambling issues from an early age, in the same way we educate the use of alcohol and drugs, is surely something which should be addressed. If every child in the UK was told about the effects of gambling then what would this do in 20 years time? Would this then affect the age majority of GA meetings?
I like to think that this is the path I’ve been looking for and I’m dedicated to walk that path. It might become narrow at times and sometimes be difficult or challenging but I’m going to keep going.
Please reply if you have any questions or wish to add your support.
I have a personal website and social networking site with a good following already. If you are interested to read some more please just ask.
Tom