GamLEARN: a lived experience network for people that have been impacted directly/indirectly from gambling related harm.

Who We Are

GamLEARN (Lived Experience And Recovery Network) supports and empowers those who have experienced gambling-related harm.

We are a charity who is member focused and with lived experience represented throughout. Our members help shapes and mould our values as a service, and is at the very heart of who we are.

What We Do

GamLEARN provides our members with opportunities to obtain learning and accredited training.

We are also a support service for individuals facing the criminal justice system, and work closely with research academics who want to have meaningful engagement with lived experience.

We offer courses that are developed and delivered by Lived Experience and host weekly online meet ups for our members to connect and share.

Who Supports Us

GamLEARN would like to acknowledge those who support and donate to our cause and our partners: who have given their voices and time collectively and individually to raising awareness of gambling harm. There is an ever-growing community of people with lived experience doing amazing and inspiring work everyday.

If you would like to donate, partner with us, or have research to share, please get in touch.

About Our Charity

GamLEARN is a community of non-judgemental people who support each other and work together to reduce Gambling Harm. We support and empower people to lead a happy and meaningful life without gambling.

Our collective lived experience drives our work, which we believe is a powerful tool for change on an individual, community and societal level.

From this community we offer compassion. From this compassion we create opportunities. From these opportunities we reach more people. 

Our community offers compassion

Our community offers opportunity

Our community pushes for wider understanding

Our community is the beating heart of GamLEARN

Our Objectives

To be a Lived Experience and Recovery network where our members can connect with one another.

To provide learning through structured training and workshops to help our members develop personally and professionally.

To collaborate with others ensuring that the voice of Lived Experience is heard and respected in meaningful interaction.

To ensure that the safety and wellbeing of our members is at the core of everything we do.

What We Do

We are a lived experience focused charity that value how important it is to have our members being involved in the work we do. Our members shapes and moulds our values as a service.

Courses

We provide opportunities to obtain learning and accredited training through courses developed and delivered by lived experience. Read more

Criminal Justice Support

We offer a support service for individuals facing the Criminal Justice System: a wrap around service that is tailored to what you need. Read more

Research

We work within the research sectors and closely with academics who want to have meaningful engagement with Lived Experience. Read more

Meet Ups

A weekly online meet-up with our members: a safe place, to share, to connect and to talk. Information is sent out via our Newsletter. Read more

Our Team

Our team are made up of trustees and our Advisory Board. You can see the full team here.

I am an Affected Other and through my own lived experience I was empowered to set up the charity GamFam.
GamFam helps those in direct recovery from a gambling disorder and their families through GRASP. The GamFam Recovery and Support Programme.
I have worked closely with Tony on various projects including the
#WEAREtheEvidence Too report to the DCMS. When Tony approached me about being a Trustee for GamLEARN I was honoured and delighted to be part of an organisation that has Lived Experience at the heart.

Steve Watts

Chair Of Trustees

From my mid-50’s grief manifested into my addiction to online slots. Prolific gambling led to losing my entire wealth, chasing losses racked up debts rendering me bankrupt, homeless, and suicidal. Gambling impacted my health and relationships with family and friends, to whom I became unrecognisable from the
woman they once knew. In joining GamLEARN, aside from my administrative skills, I bring a wealth of Lived Experience from my addiction, trauma and mental health. I am passionate about helping others into and sustaining recovery from gambling addiction and reducing the stigma it brings. A proud Mum and Grandma. My passion for writing and walking with friends has
returned!

Chrissy Boyce

Development Coordinator

I have personal experience with the impact of my partner's gambling addiction. This has led me to educate myself on addiction, specifically Gambling Related Harm. As a GamFam group facilitator, I support partners of gamblers on a weekly basis and run a guided meditation and breathwork group. Additionally, as a Holistic Therapist, I leverage my own experiences to assist individuals dealing with stress and anxiety related to their own or a loved one's gambling habits. Being part of GamLEARN's advisory panel allows me to extend my help to others who have encountered similar challenges.

Tracy O'Shaughnessy

Affected Other

I am John Myers, 62 years old and I live in Huyton, Liverpool.
I have been actively campaigning for changes to the UK Gambling Act since my son took his own life due to a gambling addiction.
I joined GamLearn's advisory group hoping to help people who are in recovery from this Insidious addiction and hopefully stop other families going through the anguish we had to.

John Myers

Affected Other

A Message From GamLEARN

At GamLEARN, we recognise that lived experience is absolutely key to reducing gambling related harm – it is at the very heart of everything we do and shapes and moulds our values as a service. Many of our members have experienced the detrimental effects that a Gambling Disorder can have and we understand, only too well, just how destructive and devastating it can be.

But trust us: it can and does get better:

Connecting with others and engaging in meaningful projects can be a great part of moving away from gambling harm and sustaining recovery. We provide our members with opportunities to obtain learning and accredited training; be part of the development of future projects; contribute to working groups/advisory panels, and so much more.

Our overall aim is to utilise our own experiences that we have gained from our individual journeys to help others develop their own skills and understanding.

We are here to help people regain their confidence and a sense of self-worth – empowering them to find their chosen paths in both work and society, whilst enabling them to lead a happy and meaningful life without gambling. It is as simple as that.

You have got this, and we are here with you every step of the way.

Thanks for stopping by,

GamLEARN

Our Partners

GamLEARN would like to acknowledge our members who have been selfless in their time and efforts to our cause and our partners who have shown how much they value the voices of Lived Experience. GamLEARN is about our members, collectively and individually, helping raise awareness of gambling harm, developing new ideas for what we should do as a charity. Without our members, there is no GamLEARN. We are an ever-growing network of people with lived experience doing amazing and inspiring work every single day. We want to give our members opportunities to learn, develop, engage, and be part of something where everyone feels connected.
If you would like to be a member or partner, please get in touch info@gamlearn.org.uk