Stopping gambling can make a big difference to your life, but it can be challenging. It takes time and effort. People trying to change their gambling behaviour can often experience a ‘lapse’ –placing a bet, exceeding their limits by playing too long or spending too much.

It’s easy to feel guilty, feel like a failure and want to give up and go back to gambling. Don’t allow these thoughts and feelings to overshadow the hard work you have achieved so far.

So, don’t give up!

You can manage any setback by developing a mindset to learn from the experience and to learn different ways of responding so its less like to occur in the future.

1. Avoid labelling yourself as a failure – see the lapse as a learning opportunity.
2. Strengthen your commitment – remember your reasons for giving up or cutting down on gambling. This is a way of taking good care of yourself, now and in the future.
3. Analyse your lapse – use your learning from your lapse to get your life back on track and cope with this situation if it occurs in the future. What has and hasn’t worked? What would you do differently?
4. Ask for help – talk about what happened. Sometimes an outside perspective can be really helpful in deciding the next step to take. If you feel you need professional support, fill in the form via the self-refer button on our website. This is a free service, delivered confidentially and remotely.

Remember, whatever route you take, you can do it!