We are a community of families and friends bereaved by suicide directly caused or influenced by a predatory gambling industry.

Community support

We come together to connect with people who have all experienced the same terrible event in their lives.  Some of us want to campaign to stop this happening to others and many prefer simply to meet.  There are various ways that we connect with each other:

• Drop-in online chats and in-person regional meetings
• In-person campaigning events
• Annual parliamentary events usually with a theme
• Walking with The Big Step community which campaigns to end gambling advertising in football

• In-person events to come together and support each other

We also help people to arrange local community events that can be memorial or fund-raising events and can be about helping a wider community to understand about predatory gambling companies and what happened to a family member.

Professional help from the GwL team

Practical and legal help

The practical and legal events that surround a sudden death often make things more difficult and we can help with:

• Arrangements around funerals
• Legal proceedings, including inquests
• Complaints to the Gambling Commission
• Debt and probate advice
• Advocacy
• Managing press interest

Emotional support

We have a family psychotherapist on the team who can help any family member or friend of the person who has died.  She can also meet with the family or friends as a group.  The support is online, is not time-limited and people can dip in and out depending on their needs.  Some people have chosen to ask us to help with accessing in-person help locally.

All the specialist help we offer is free of charge and independent of gambling industry influence.

If you or someone you know has been bereaved by gambling-related suicide, then please get in touch with Judith for an informal chat at support@gamblingwithlives.org or on 07774 617771.

Please note that if you contact us outside working hours we will respond to you as soon as possible.

In an emergency

If you are in mental health distress we recommend that you call the Samaritans on 116 123. If you are in a mental health crisis or feeling suicidal we recommend you call 111 or your GP, and in an emergency call 999.