Last updated 08:37, Wednesday, 16 July 2008

IN Cumbria 24,800 people have a gambling problem.
For more than nine months, neither they nor their families have had anyone they could turn to for help. Now they have. DEBORAH KERMODE investigates.

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FANCY a flutter?

Every small town has its bingo hall and scratch cards are just about everywhere.

You don’t even have to move out of your chair at home – you can telphone bets, play on TV or find an online gambling site.

In less than a month you’ll be able to play bingo on your mobile phone.

The whole financial culture of all major countries is based on gambling – otherwise known as placing your money on stocks and shares.

It’s not surprising then that at least 50 per cent of people in this country gamble regularly – and the figure doesn’t include the National Lottery.

Some – reckoned at five per cent of the population – gamble to excess.

They don’t just have a flutter – they become addicted to the flutter gambling gives them, the thrill of placing a bet, the tension, the knuckle-biting anxiety. They can’t stop.

Yet for nearly a year, people with a gambling problem in Furness, Cartmel and Millom have not known of anyone they could turn to for specialised professional help.

Now, at last, the county has its first five-strong co-operative of counsellors and psycho-therapists dedicated to helping the gambler who wants to stop.

Two of those are based in Furness.

Amanda O’Brien, of Urswick, and Christopher Anderson, of Hindpool, Barrow, are both counsellors for national charity Gamcare.

The two of them got together with three others in West Cumbria and Penrith, including Gamcare-in-Cumbria administrator Richard Mottram of Egremont, to form the specialised co-operative.

The co-operative, called Cumbria Counselling Group, works through Gamcare as it is a long-established charity and offers free counselling.

Anyone with a gambling problem, or their families and partners, can contact the co-operative to arrange for up to 24 free one-hour sessions of counselling.

Richard said: “A service was at one time offered by independent care provider Cumbria Alcohol and Drug Dependency Service, but they stopped that in July last year. Several of us were counsellors with CADAS and were interested in continuing the work.

“There was a definite need, a massive need in fact.”

During the time there was no established service, calls had kept on coming in from the national helpline installed by law in all betting shops, Richard said.

A few also came direct to CADAS, Gamcare and individual counsellors.

But up until late March this year, there was no one in Furness and South Cumbria that could respond to these sufferers, and no free service either.

Both Amanda and Christopher have been counsellors and psychotherapists for two years.

They did a course of extra training in gambling issues in March to prepare them for the new work.

Asked how they go about counselling serious gamblers or those who live with them, the co-operative agreed that confidentiality was a key issue.

“It’s fundamental to what we do and fundamental that we say that up front to clients,” said Richard.

“People who make that first call are often apprehensive, scared about seeking help. Not only that, we are bound by a code of ethical standards and practice.”

People come from all walks of life and situations.

Amanda said: “It affects all ages.”

Richard added: “Traditionally it’s been male, but with all these other forms of gambling such as scratch cards it’s becoming much wider. As women become more assertive in the workplace they become more assertive in their own lives and are now going to casinos.”

Gambling often starts out as fun, but as Richard says: “We see the people for whom it doesn’t work out and it isn’t fun.”

Winning money often looks like the first attraction, but the counsellors all agree that behind it is the need to escape from problems or pressures at home or at work, or from boredom, loneliness or anxiety.

Amanda said. “We look at different coping skills. Gambling is a strategy to feel better – we aim to support the client to find new healthier coping strategies .

“Gambling provides a lot of excitement, a race track, so we would be looking at a strategy which matches that kind of energy.”

Christopher agreed. “We help people to help themselves – to think and feel and behave differently. People are not gamblers – they are actually people with a problem. Gambling is a symptom not a cause of that problem.”

Richard went further. He said: “People who gamble are often very intelligent people who have a job or occupation that doesn’t recognise or use that ability.

“If you think about it, keeping in your head facts and figures about a large number of horses and riders is a way of using all that mental energy. Helping people recognise that they have a talent or ability and can use it in a more healthy, positive way, is what is needed.”

• National charity GamCare provides support, information and advice to anyone suffering through problem gambling. To contact the 8am to midnight helpline ring 0845 6000 133. To explore GamCare counselling services go to www.gamcare.org.uk

• To block online gambling from your computer see www.gamblock.com