The Women Left Behind by Gambling Addiction

“We kept meeting women struggling alone, living in constant fear,” says Claire. “Checking accounts late at night. Panicking every time the phone rang.

According to Public Health England approximately 1.5 to 2 million adults in Britain may be directly affected by someone else’s gambling. Of those, women are disproportionately represented among ‘affected others’ seeking support.

Many affected others do not seek support until crisis point.

Lorraine Perrons, mother-of-two returned from a family holiday to discover, unbeknown to her, her husband’s secret gambling addiction had pushed the family to the brink of financial collapse.
Now, years later, Lorraine, alongside fellow therapist Claire Jones, is helping affected others to rebuild their lives through a pioneering trauma informed programme designed to support women affected by the fallout from another person’s gambling addiction.

Experts estimate that for every person experiencing gambling harm in the UK, up to 10 other people suffer in silence alongside them, often partners and children living with secrecy, fear, debt and emotional trauma behind closed doors.

Lorraine says she had no idea of her partner's gambling addiction until returning home from a family holiday with her husband and two young sons.

During the trip, she had become increasingly uneasy watching him repeatedly place bets during race nights. But it was only after arriving home to a mountain of final demand letters stacked inside the house that she realised the truth.
“What I found completely changed my life,” she says. “When I confronted him, he eventually looked at me and said, ‘I think I’ve got a gambling problem.'”

At the same time, Lorraine was trying to process the financial crisis unfolding around her family, she was also preparing to lose her terminally ill father, who died just four months later.
She describes the years that followed as “survival mode”, trying to shield her children from chaos while battling exhaustion, grief and mounting financial instability.

Following the eventual separation, Lorraine endured a long and painful divorce involving emergency court hearings after agreements around mortgages and finances repeatedly broke down. During one hearing, a judge described the case as “a very clear example of what gambling addiction can do to a family.”

“I realised later that I’d spent years living like a shell of myself,” says Lorraine. “Holding everything together on the surface while underneath I was exhausted and emotionally detached from my own life.”

Much later, Lorraine was diagnosed with Complex PTSD.

Her experiences eventually led her to study gambling harm, trauma and emotional recovery more deeply, ultimately shaping her path into therapeutic work supporting both gamblers and affected others.

Now, alongside fellow therapist Claire Jones, she has co-founded Gambling Recovery for All CIC and Gambling Recovery Therapy, combining lived experience with more than 34 years of NHS, therapeutic and social care expertise.

The pair met while training as hypnotherapists and quickly bonded over both their professional backgrounds and their shared experiences as “affected others,” people harmed by someone else’s gambling.

“We both felt there was very little support available for people affected by another person’s gambling addiction,” says Claire. “Most services focused on the gambler, while the partners and families around them were quietly falling apart.”

Initially working directly with gamblers, Lorraine and Claire soon realised the emotional trauma affecting loved ones was often overlooked entirely.

“We kept meeting women struggling alone, living in constant fear,” says Claire. “Checking accounts late at night. Panicking every time the phone rang. Losing trust in themselves. Many were showing clear trauma responses without even recognising it.”

Determined to create something to help these forgotten women, the pair founded Gambling Recovery for All CIC, which has now secured funding through Greo Evidence Insights and the Network to Reduce Gambling Harms.

At the heart of the initiative is a free 12-week online trauma-informed programme called Rebuild and Rise: Reclaim Your Life, designed specifically for women adversely affected by someone else’s gambling.

The therapist-led programme combines emotional support, practical coping strategies, psychoeducation, hypnotherapy and peer community to help women regain confidence, stability and emotional wellbeing.

“We wanted to create something genuinely trauma-informed,” says Claire. “Not just advice, but a safe space where women feel understood by people who truly get it.”

The first live online cohort begins on 9 June 2026, with funded places available subject to eligibility.

“For so many women, this is happening quietly behind closed doors,” says Lorraine. “We want them to know they are not alone and that recovery is possible.”

Sick of the chaos gambling is causing you and your family? We understand that perfectly as we’ve experienced it ourselves.

This 12-week structured, trauma-informed programme is designed for women affected by gambling harm. This programme is for you if you feel ready to focus on your own wellbeing and take meaningful steps towards change.

APPLY FOR THE PROGRAMME:
https://forms.gle/aMA4fJbgDMSpgoTb9

VISIT THE GAMBLING RECOVERY THERAPY WEBSITE:
www.gamblingrecoverytherapy.com

All press enquiries:
Sam@projected.co.uk +44 7973 120252

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